“Time for Salvation” Is Forever!

The apostles Peter and Paul never taught that with their deaths the “time for salvation” would end; it is quit the opposite in fact. I make this claim from their words.

First take a look at what Peter wrote in his letter to all Christians.


(2 Peter 1:12-15)

“12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.”

In this passage Peter is reminding all to remain “firmly established” in all that they have learned about salvation through Jesus Christ – the truth and in verse 15 Peter is telling them that even after he is dead he will continue to provide help by way of his letters and from those whom the Holy Spirit had placed as locate congregational leaders (elders).

Why would Peter make such a point to stress to the Christians that he will “make every effort” to make sure that they will have all that they need for salvation if with his death all who are under his authority will loss their salvation and salvation would be withheld from those who have yet to come to Christ?

Now let’s take a look at what Paul had to say with the approach of his death in his last letter to Timothy from his prison cell in Rome just before Nero had him beheaded.

(2 Timothy 3:1-5)

1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)
1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom,
I give you this charge:
2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

(2 Timothy 4:6-8)

6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

In these passages Paul is clearly giving to Timothy instructions on what to look out for, what to avoid, and what to do when he, Paul, is taken from this world with “I give you this charge”.

The same question that I asked regarding Peter also applies to Paul as well.

Why would Paul make such an effort to write and get this letter to Timothy stressing the importants of remaining in the faith and the teachings of salvation through Jesus Christ if Paul thought that the “time for salvation” was through him and would end with his death?

The answers to both of these questions are that neither Peter nor Paul ever believed or taught in their letters that the time for salvation was measured by their lives.

What they taught and recorded in their letters is that the time for salvation started with the Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of sinless blood on the cross (1 Peter 1:2) and would never leave us because “the word of the Lord stands forever”, as Peter wrote in his first letter to all Christians.

(1 Peter 1:24-25)

24For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,

25but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

Since the “word of the Lord stands forever” and any thing that stands is not moving Peter is clearly stating that the gospel of Jesus Christ – the Word – is here in the same place forever ready for those who by faith will believe in him for salvation.

The “time for salvation” is Forever because the Lord Jesus Christ is Forever!