When we look carefully at the Christian life, we tend to focus on salvation. Most Protestants understand “salvation” as the inauguration of a “relationship” with God, in Jesus. We see this “inauguration” as instantaneous – upon profession of faith; and, personal – Jesus loves “me.” In Romans 10:9-10, what I call the sacred verses of salvation, Paul states,
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The problem is, we tend to stop there; we think we have arrived. If that is so, why would Paul say this in his letter to the 2 Corinthians 3:17-18?
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Salvation as justification may occur in an instant, but that is simply the beginning. Throughout our lives, the Holy Spirit is transforming us (μεταμορφόω) into the image of God we were designed to be in the beginning. As the caterpillar undergoes “metamorphosis” in its cocoon, it is changed or transformed into the butterfly, a beautiful, dynamic creature.
Why all of the talk about transformation? Every brief faculty article in this issue of Inscribed reveals that although God accepts you “for who you are,” God never leaves you unchanged. We are being transformed day-by-day into the image of His Son; the very image of God, and all that comes with it.
YTI came into this world in 2012; yet from 2014 onward, we have been in a cocoon, where God has been transforming the Institute into what He has destined it to be: the provider of a generous, meaningful theological education. For the 2025-2026 school year, YTI is giving full-tuition scholarships to all qualified master’s degree applicants. Students can attend class online or in-person, regardless of where they live. Distance students only need to come to Bozeman in late August for induction/academic week and for practicums.
God taught Moses on Mount Sinai tuition-free; YTI will educate students, preparing them for the life ahead, tuition–free in the 2025-2026 school year.