"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory."

I wonder if Paul knew when he was writing words that would one day become Scripture.

When he wrote these words above--which make one long, expansive sentence in the Greek--to the Ephesians, I think he must have known, but I don't think he planned it that way. The way scholars and commentators have dissected, belabored over, and torn apart this passage, we might be tempted to think Paul thought through these things very carefully and wrote them down specifically and intentionally. Instead, I picture him sitting down to write his letter, and he was suddenly moved by the Spirit. He simply began writing, quickly, vigorously, as the words came to mind and poured forth, spilling onto the page. He could not stop to think about what he was writing, because his pen just kept moving at such a fast pace that he could barely keep up. Finally, he paused, added the single period, and put his pen down to take a breath. His eyes looked over what was written, and his heart leapt as he rejoiced in the truths he found there: not truths that came from his own mind, but the truths that were delivered by the Spirit through him. Perhaps he wept with joy at the humbling notion of being used in such a way. And at this point, he could not comprehend the words he just wrote, nor could he comprehend being the chosen communicator of such lofty thoughts, which is why he immediately launched into a prayer for understanding in verse 15.

And this reminds me of art in its truest sense: art without a set agenda that gives way to deeper, transcendent meanings after being created.

Madeleine L'Engle often talked about how she did not find symbolism or deeper truths in her stories until several years after finishing them, perhaps not even realizing until someone else pointed it out. She simply told the story at the time, "serving" the characters as she puts it, and found surprising things later on.

Michael Nau of Page France says the lyrics on his album Hello, Dear Wind just came to mind and sounded good at the time. All of the spiritual allusions people point out in his songs simply confound him.

I wonder if the people of Ephesus asked Paul about his opening sentence in the same way we interrogate authors and artists. "Why did you choose this word?" "What did you mean by that word?" Perhaps he stuttered, had a hard time communicating, because ultimately he couldn't answer. Those were not his words, and he's been wondering the same things all this time.

This is difficult for a logical, cerebral, non-artistic person to comprehend. It sounds too mystical. Impossible. How can you write something with such obvious symbolism and meaning without planning it or thinking about it, without realizing it? But if we can entertain the idea with the writing of Paul, perhaps it's easier to see it happening in the work of artists. And while I'm not radical enough to elevate everyday art to the level of scripture (although, I may be bold enough to suggest that any truly good piece of art is inspired by the Spirit, just as L'Engle would have in so many words said), perhaps we have a lot more to learn from art than we often realize or take the time to admit.