In Christ, new is creation...

"Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Cor 5:17, KJV)

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, {he is} a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Cor 5:17, NASB)

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." (Galatians 6:15, KJV)

"For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." (Galatians 6:15, NASB)

In both cases, the Greek is kainos ktisis. Yet in the NASB one is translated "new creature" and the other as "new creation."

The term ktisis can be used as a general term for creation (cf. Romans 1:20).

I'm no expert in Greek but, if I remember correctly, 2 Corinthians 5:17 can read "new (is) creation." Notice the italics in 2 Corinthians 5:17 meaning that the words are not there but are added/implied in the translation.

This makes sense to me, at least in 2 Corinthians 5:17 even in the larger context of New Testament thought. It isn't that we obtain a new nature (after all, what nature would we receive?) but that our existing nature is infused with the Holy Spirit. This is the "born again" experience. It is the power of resurrection working in us. Our old nature is not tossed out, something disposable. In baptism it dies with Christ; in him the resurrection begins and continues through each of us who accept him.

We are given another set of eyes. We see creation anew. New is creation.

Even in Galatians 6:15 this also makes sense. In Christ, not only is man restored but, through man, in Christ, the entire creation is to be restored. This is consistent with Pauline thought:

"For we know that the whole creation (ktisis) groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." (Romans 8:22)

This simply reveals the challenge of translation. There is always bias (not necessarily a bad or negative word) and a theological position behind any translation and it is thus also interpretation.

Yet there is also freedom in this. "New is creation" or "is a new creation" or "is a new creature" are all possibilities, creating a broad expanse of spiritual implications in each variation. Rather than Biblical literalism, why can we not accept that the Word is so much larger than the box we seek to put it in merely for our own comfort?