For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus… (Eph 2:10a, KJV)

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus… (Eph 2:10a, NIV)

我們原是他的工作，在基督耶穌裡造成的…… (弗 2:10上, 和合本)

This usage of the word “workmanship” (工作) is kind of odd both in modern English or in Chinese. For the Cambridge Dictionary define workmanship as “the skill with which something was made or done” (i.e. the skill of a workman, 工藝). To make sense of this, for ages I have interpreted this as “We are the meant of Jesus’s work, created in Jesus. By him and through us the works of Christ are done and manifested”. It turns out I was wrong.

The truth is: “workmanship” here is an archaic word. It means the work being done by a workman (or, in a sense, the making which shows the degree of skill of a workman, a masterpiece). The Chinese “工作” in CUV was just an mistranslation from English.

(P.S. The Greek word ποίημα seems to be much simpler. Who knows? I maybe wrong again.)