To create
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ktizo means to create, bring into being, or form as God's creative act, with the New Testament applying it both to original creation and to new-creation realities in Christ. Matthew 19:4 looks back to the Creator's work from the beginning.
Reader summary
Full entry for κτίζω (G2936) · Open the biblical lexicon
ktizo means to create, bring into being, or form as God's creative act, with the New Testament applying it both to original creation and to new-creation realities in Christ. Matthew 19:4 looks back to the Creator's work from the beginning.
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include created (6), Creator (3), were created (3), . . . (1), create (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 19:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Ephesians (4), Colossians (3), Revelation (3), 1 Corinthians (1).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Ktizo means to create, bring into being, or form as God's creative act, with the New Testament applying it both to original creation and to new-creation realities in Christ. Matthew 19:4 looks back to the Creator's work from the beginning. Romans 1:25 warns against exchanging the Creator for the creature. Colossians 1:16 locates all created things through and for Christ.
Ephesians uses the verb for believers created in Christ for good works, one new humanity created in Christ, and the new self created according to God. The word should not be reduced to creativity in a general human sense. It speaks of God's sovereign making, Christ's lordship over creation, and the transforming new work that forms God's people in righteousness and peace.
The selected passages join Creator and creature distinction, Christ's agency and goal in creation, and the new-creation work that forms believers and one reconciled humanity in Him.
Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
Jesus appeals to the Creator's work from the beginning when answering a question about marriage. ktizo supports His argument from creation order without becoming a general slogan detached from the passage.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
Paul describes idolatry as serving the creature rather than the Creator. The verb family marks the essential boundary between God who creates and what has been made.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
Believers are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. New creation produces a prepared way of life rather than earning salvation by works.
By abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace
Christ creates in Himself one new man out of two, making peace. ktizo here serves reconciliation, showing God's new act in forming Jew and Gentile unity in Christ.
And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The new self is created to be like God in righteousness and holiness. The verb presents moral renewal as God's formative work, not mere self-reinvention.
For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
All things were created in, through, and for Christ. This is the highest Christological use in the selected set, placing every created power beneath Him.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To create something fundamentally new, often by divine action; distinct from making or fashioning existing materials.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseI create, form, shape, make
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 14 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 15 lexical occurrence verses.
κτίζω is built from this root:
Marriage and food are rooted in God’s creative design, not human invention.1 Timothy 4:1-5
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Ktizo holds together two truths the church must not separate. God is the Creator of all things, and the creature must never receive the worship that belongs to Him. Romans 1 names that exchange as a fundamental disorder. Colossians 1 then shows that creation is not religiously neutral territory, because all things were created through and for Christ. Ephesians brings that same creating power into salvation and community life.
Believers are created in Christ for good works, not saved by works. Hostile division is answered by Christ creating one new humanity in Himself. The new self is created according to God in righteousness and holiness. The word therefore gives teachers a bridge from creation to redemption: the God who made all things also remakes His people in Christ, for worship, peace, holiness, and obedient life.
Col.1.16
Ktizo is a verb of making or creating, and in the selected New Testament passages its subject or theological frame is God's action. It can refer to original creation or to God's new work in Christ. Context decides whether the focus is creation order, creaturely dependence, reconciliation, renewed selfhood, or Christ's cosmic supremacy.
Genesis establishes God as Creator of heaven and earth, and the prophets often appeal to the Lord's creative power to expose idols and comfort His people. The New Testament gathers creation around Christ and extends creation language to the new humanity formed in Him.