Creature

Creature in biblical usage denotes the whole of created existence, or individual members of the created order. In Romans 8:19–22, the creature (ktisis, creation) is personified as groaning and travailing in pain, subjected to futility at Adam's fall, now awaiting the revelation of the sons of God and the liberation that will accompany the resurrection. Paul's cosmic scope here extends the consequences of the fall and the reach of redemption beyond humanity to the entire created order.

Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as the firstborn of all creation — a title indicating his priority and preeminence over all created things rather than his own createdness (as the following verses make clear: all things were created in him, through him, and for him). Revelation 5:13 portrays every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and in the sea joining in the worship of the Lamb and the one who sits on the throne. The four living creatures (Ezekiel 1:5–14; Revelation 4:6–8) are a special class of heavenly beings whose form combines features of human, lion, ox, and eagle — representing the fullness of creaturely life in the presence of God.