used among the Greeks to mean the founding of a place, a city or colony, signifies, in Scripture, "to create," always of the act of God, whether (a) in the natural creation, Mar 13:19, Rom 1:25 (where the title "The Creator" translates the article with the aorist participle of the verb); 1Co 11:9, Eph 3:9, Col 1:16, 1Ti 4:3, Rev 4:11, Rev 10:6, or (b) in the spiritual creation, Eph 2:10, Eph 2:15, Eph 4:24, Col 3:10. See MAKE.
primarily "the act of creating," or "the creative act in process," has this meaning in Rom 1:20, Gal 6:15. Like the English word "creation," it also signifies the product of the "creative" act, the "creature," as in Mar 16:15, RV; Rom 1:25, Rom 8:19, Col 1:15 etc.; in Heb 9:11, AV, "building." In Mar 16:15, Col 1:23 its significance has special reference to mankind in general. As to its use in Gal 6:15, 2Co 5:17, in the former, apparently, "the reference is to the creative act of God, whereby a man is introduced into the blessing of salvation, in contrast to circumcision done by human hands, which the Judaizers claimed was necessary to that end. In 2Co 5:17 the reference is to what the believer is in Christ; in consequence of the creative act he has become a new creature."* [*From Notes on Galatians, by Hogg and Vine, p. 339.] Ktisis is once used of human actions, 1Pe 2:13, "ordinance" (marg., "creation"). See BUILDING, ORDINANCE. has the concrete sense, "the created thing, the creature, the product of the creative act," 1Ti 4:4, Jam 1:18, Rev 5:13, Rev 8:9. among the Greeks, the founder of a city, etc., denotes in Scripture "the Creator," 1Pe 4:19 (cp. Rom 1:20, under B, No. 1, above). Note: It is a significant confirmation of Rom 1:1-21, that in all non-Christian Greek literature these words are never used by Greeks to convey the idea of a Creator or of a creative act by any of their gods. The words are confined by them to the acts of human beings. "a living creature:" see BEAST.
