What does this mean?

Question

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Now please dont change what it say's. My question is this."Was the WORLD" taxed?" It clearly say's World. Am not being fasicious, it's a legit question.

Answer 1

Okay
The world as it was known then was being dominated by the Romans
the Roman empire was THE super power of their day
So all the lands and seas that they had conquered up to that point
was what they knew to be
their WORLD
Keep in mind that anything involving the human factor potentially involves human error
hence
it could have been translated incorrectly
as you know
a comma in the wrong part of a sentence could change an interpration irrivocobally
so
if the translator misread the original transcript
then we all are being told wrong
but in this particlar instance
common sense says it refers to the Roman Empire

Answer 2

not a stupid or arrogant question in my mind.

i am a christian who happens to also be a former soldier and a scientist.

remember that the ceasars were as arrogant as the pharohs were. many of them considered themselves to be the children of the gods and therefore divine.

as rome ruled much of the known world at that time, there is no doubt in my mind that we could back up luke 2:1 with a document or two from roman history where there were actually statements directed to "the world".

remember that these "children of the gods" were more educated than the masses, yet even the scholars of that period did not reflect on the world being so large, or even "round" in most instances.

-eagle

Answer 3

Rome basically ruled all of the known world at this time. The idea is that Ceasar Augustus demanded a tax from anyone and everyone.

Answer 4

Of course it is a legit question and I am going to answer it as such.
What that chapter and verse is referring to is the world as Caesar knew it. The world was Rome so all those under Roman rule were enrolled or registered in a census for taxation purposes regardless of nationality. :)
Most of the time the tax part is about registering for a census which precludes taxation or tithe.

Answer 5

Back in those days, their neighborhood was their world. If you could ride their in a day by horse it was your neighborhood and your world. So what he is daying is each person in that area would be levied a tax. They had to pay just like us but the repercussion for not paying was far worse than us.
Our world has grown and is much larger now due to transportation. We can get anywhere in a day or two. Back then that was imposible.

Answer 6

In those days Rome was the world. Any place the Roman empire touched was deemed part of the world. So it most likely means the Roman empire in general.

Answer 7

I think the world was taxed

Answer 8

what i think it means is what it says the people is the world so the world was taxed but if you really want to know is to study and search the bible and run cross references on it and you will get a better understanding.

Answer 9

The world refers to the Roman Empire, and it's citizens.

Answer 10

The Roman world .The land that they controlled.The civilized world,if you will.Which would mean from Rome to France and parts of Germany,down to,Egypt across to Israel to Persia.