It could be a rapid process, but you cannot unduce from those or any other examples that salvation is always a single binary event. Further, even those examples do not always show it for the people in question. For example, if you review the 1. Justification in the Bible section of SALVATION PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, you will find a discourse on how salvation of Abraham was certainly not a one time event:
... we see that Abraham was justified on at least three different occasions: he was justified in Genesis 12, when he first left Haran and went to the promised land; he was justified in Genesis 15, when he believed the promise concerning his descendants; and he was justified in Genesis 22, when he offered his first promised descendant on the altar.As a result, justification must be seen, not as a once-for-all event, but as a process which continues throughout the believer's life.
This, btw, is an excellent timeline of Abraham and one that I often argue. The fact is Abraham was justified when he believed God and left his land as the author correctly points out as it states in Romans. But the author mistakenly tries to make the case that there are separate and distinct points in time when Abraham was justified. I would say instead that Abraham was justified when he left, was justified by faith 17 years later and was justified by works 12 years after that. These are not independent events in the salvation process but one continuous process of the sanctification process. God called to Abraham and Abraham followed. And throughout the entire process God watched over Abraham, protecting both him and Sarah even when they doubted God's promises; before Abraham was justified by faith or works.
Think of it this way, if God knows all things and God directs our paths, why would God justify a person in one point in time and take it away in another? At what point does God stop working in a person's life? It would seem to me that if God could work in my life when I was the most wretched sinner to lead me to Christ, then certainly He would see me stay with Christ when He has started a good work in me.
Like Abraham God calls to us and we follow. He nurtures and helps us to grow in our faith to bear the fruit that He so desires. It isn't that we have multiple salvation experiences when we are declared more righteous than others. Rather it is God changing our hearts and leading us in the paths of His righteousness for His name sake.
This is a mistake Catholics tend to make, thinking some men obtain a holiness moreso than others. That is not the case. All believers in our Lord Jesus Christ are equally holy. There are none who are more than someone else though God may choose to work with someone more than others.
...but you cannot unduce from those or any other examples that salvation is always a single binary event.
Of course I can. A person is either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness (Rom 6). It is an either-or situation.