‘We are [God’s] workmanship’, exclaims the apostle in Ephesians 2:10.

‘Workmanship’ translates the word poiema, which, according to this article:

‘signifies that which is manufactured, a product, a design produce by an artisan. Polema emphasizes God as the Master Designer.’

‘As the artist seeks to express himself in his work, so God expresses Himself in us.’

‘You are His poem.’

‘Masterpiece- showpiece; blockbuster, success; gem, jewel, prize, treasure…these are the synomyms (words that mean the same) for masterpiece.’

This is all very appealing.  But is that what the word means?  May we import the nuances of the English word ‘poem’ back into this Greek word?

‘No’, says Bill Mounce.  The word, which occurs elsewhere in the NT only at Rom 1:20, simply refers to that which has been made.

Most English translations, therefore, render it: ‘workmanship’, ‘handiwork’, or similar.  (An exception is the NLT, which has ‘masterpiece’, which as Mounce comments, reflects the same entymological error as the quotations above.)

It is fanciful, and deceptive, to attempt to define ancient words using a meaning derived from a modern and totally foreign language.