No. Reading the scriptures written and spoken 2,000 years ago as though they were written in our time, our generation is anachronistic. We cannot read the NT scriptures and think in current socio-economic conditions. We must think as those of that generation did. Their world was the one where Judea was a province of the ancient Roman empire, and their world consisted of conquered nations that all became provinces of Rome.
The "world" translated in Rom. 10:18 as well as in Matt. 24:14 is Strong's Gr. 3625, "oikoumene," and is defined as the inhabited earth. (1) The usage is the same as was meant in Luke 2:1.
"(properly: the land that is being inhabited, the land in a state of habitation), the inhabited world, that is, the Roman world, for all outside it was regarded as of no account."
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." (Luke 2:1, KJV)
Augustus could only tax the lands over which he ruled. He had no authority to tax anyone outside the empire. But, the word "world" was used to indicate the known world of their day - the Roman empire.
Excerpt from my post "Frequent Mistakes -Part IV: Where Was All the World?" :
The second use of “oikoumené” is found in Acts 19:27.
"So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world [oikoumené] worshippeth.” (KJV)
The “world” here referred to all the lands that worshiped the pagan goddess Diana, which at that time was Asia and the surrounding pagan nations. Ellicott’s Commentary defines it.
“Asia is, of course, the proconsular province, and the “world” is used conventionally, as in Luke 2:1, for the Roman empire. Apuleius uses language almost identical with that of Demetrius, “Diana Ephesia cujus nomen unicum . . . totus veneratur orbis.” Source: http://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/19-27.htm.
So, the pagan nation(s) which worshiped the goddess Diana was one of the provinces of the Roman empire. A nation ... a province of Rome. Because, Rome acquired more territories as it conquered a people who occupied a certain land or nation, and then added those nations to their empire as a province of Rome.
The Romans distinguished Republican provinces which were controlled by the Senate, and the Imperial provinces which were ruled by representatives of Caesar who answered only to Caesar. A list of the Roman provinces in 14 AD is available here, and included Sicilia, Germania, Hispania, Africa, Asia, Macedonia, Gallia, Syria, Cyprus, and Judea.
The Romans kept conquering nations throughout the first century AD and, by the time Revelation was written in 66-68 AD, they had added Mauretaina, Britannia, Thracia, the Alps of Italy, Switzerland, and France.
The world and the nations of the world during the time in which the books of the New Testament were written was the old Roman empire.
Therefore, Christ’s prophesy in Matthew 24:14 can be paraphrased for our understanding as follows:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in [in all of the Roman empire] for a witness unto [all the people who inhabit the Roman provinces]; and then shall the end come.”
The Bible was not written in English, and the New Testament was not written yesterday. When reading the Bible we have to put ourselves in their shoes, and their time period, their age, their political world, and their culture.
Paul stated in Col. 1:23,
“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” (KJV)
“Every creature under heaven” was every person under the rule of the heaven of the earthly kingdom of the Roman empire. As the book of Colossians was written about 61-62 AD (see DatingTheNewTestament), then according to Paul, the gospel had been preached in “all the world” by 61 – 62 AD. (2)
Notes:
Oikoumene - Strong's Gr. 3625: biblehub
Frequent Mistakes Part IV - ShreddingTheVeil
