The proper context for interpreting the Bible is the context of the biblical writers – the context that produced the Bible. Every other context is alien to the biblical writers and, therefore, to the Bible. Yet there is a pervasive tendency in the believing Church to filter the Bible through creeds, confessions, and denominational preferences.
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Author of “The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible”

The Bible does not need to be rewritten – it needs to be reread.

WORLD

This is one of various words used freely and which commonly creates misperceptions. Unfortunately the word’s misrepresentation is often rooted in wrong or insufficient translation of the original terms in the source texts, and where meanings other than those the original readers and audiences would have understood is translated into the text. For example:

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world [Greek: oikoumene] for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). It is the same word used in Revelation 3:10, for example.

Oikoumene broadly speaking means the inhabited earth, but in the New Testament context it was used more specifically as indicating the Roman Empire (as used in Matt 24:14; Luke 2:1 and Rev 3:10). When Jesus said that the gospel would be preached in all the world before the end would come, the Roman Empire of that era was the framework of reference. See the list of ‘all nations under heaven’ in Acts 2:5-11.

Read the broader discussion of the various Greek words translated as “world” in many Bible versions, in our free downloadable book, Rightly Divide The Word of God