NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Part I

Verse 1: “At that time, God’s kingdom will be like ten bridesmaids who went out to wait for the bridegroom, taking their oil lamps with them”.

Jesus just finished telling a story to illustrate how His return will be treated by some who grew tired of waiting for His coming, and would not be ready when He did arrive. In fact, they would have completely abandoned their posts and were living as though there was nothing to fear. So they will get caught living foolishly, filled with greed. Therefore, since they were living like unbelievers, they were treated and punished like unbelievers and dismissed from God’s kingdom as unworthy servants.

But, that one parable was not enough. So our Lord embarks on another story about the conditions that would prevail when He abruptly returns. Only this time, while some have not taken the time or effort to make sure they were ready, some did. As such, Jesus wanted to give His followers some measure by which they could judge themselves as to being prepared when the call to meet Him came. So our Master begins to tell about a wedding and how those who were invited to the ceremony prepared themselves for the moment when the call went out for them to meet the groom.

Augustine in the early church era understood it this way: “So then let us understand, dearly beloved, that this parable relates to us all, that is, to the whole church together, not to the clergy only, or to the laity only but generally to all. Why then are the virgins five and five? These five and five virgins are all Christian souls together. But that I may tell you what I think by the Lord’s inspiration, it is not souls of every sort but such souls as have the catholic faith and seem to have good works in the church of God. Yet even of them it is said, ‘Five are wise, and five are foolish.‘”¹

So it is clear, that Augustine saw these virgins as all belonging to the congregation of believers. However, while some had remained vigilant expecting our Lord’s return, some had not. This is a very salient point because all ten are called virgins. So, in relationship to sin, we could say that all ten of them were not involved in worldly pleasures and sinfulness. But, what made some wise and some foolish is that half of them held to the firm belief that the groom could call at any time and they must be ready to go on a moment’s notice. The others did not take it so seriously, and obviously spent more time on what they needed to do to look pretty than on what they needed to do to be prepared to meet the groom.

Verse 2: “Five of the girls were foolish, and five were wise.”

Being foolish or wise had little to do with their intellectual quotient. It was how they treated the possible sudden coming of the groom for the wedding that had already been announced would take place, with invitations going out long ago. In fact, I dare say they knew very well who the bride and groom were.

Bishop Hilary explains it this way: “The wise virgins are those who, embracing the time available to them, were prepared at the first onset of the coming of the Lord. But the foolish were those who were lax and unmindful. They troubled themselves only over present matters and, forgetting what God said, did not direct their efforts toward hope for resurrection.”²

Then Augustine of Hippo gives his interpretation. He writes: “Every soul that animates a body is denoted by the number five because it makes use of five senses. For there is nothing of which we have perception by the body except through this fivefold gate, either by sight, or hearing, or smelling, or tasting or touching. Whoever abstains from unlawful seeing, unlawful hearing, unlawful smelling, unlawful tasting, and unlawful touching by reason of blamelessness, is here called by the name of virgin.”³

As a spiritual exposition, Augustine makes the readiness or lack of preparedness on the part of these virgins a matter of keeping themselves free from the pollution of sin. But that in itself is not enough to declare them wise or foolish. Augustine goes on to say: “It says that even of these, who were virgins and carrying lamps, some are wise and some foolish. How is this distinction made? By what clue do we tell the difference? Only by whether the oil is present or missing.”⁴

Verse 3: “The foolish girls took their lamps with them, but they did not take extra oil for the lamps.”

It is important to take note that all ten girls carried lamps with them. First of all, we know that the main purpose of a lamp is to light the way in darkness so that the person carrying the lamp can see where they are going. And once the call comes, by being able to see their way they will arrive at their destination. Jesus does not say that they went out at night, but that they took their lamps with them just in case the groom arrived at night, and they were called to the wedding. So, in bringing their lamps along all ten were proven to be wise up to this point. However, five of them are called foolish even with their lamps because they did not take any extra oil along in case they had to wait a long time, they would be able to refill their lamps and make it to the marriage ceremony. It is important that the lamps and oil are not unnecessarily focused on in the believer’s life just to find matching elements.

Nevertheless, let’s denote the meaning of the lamp. By itself, it is an instrument made to provide light. But if it is not taken any further than that, then a lamp becomes a trinket or part of home decorations. It may be fancy or plain, it may be made to hold oil, it may contain a wick, and it may even have a shield against the wind so its light is not easily extinguished. But without oil, it has no other function. So then, oil becomes the main factor.

Here, the early church scholars offer their understanding of what the oil represents. For instance, Augustine says: “It is some great thing, some exceedingly great thing, that this oil signifies. Do you think it might be love? If we try out this hypothesis, we hazard no hasty judgment. I will tell you why love seems to be signified by the oil. The apostle says, ‘I will show you a still more excellent way.’⁵ ‘If I speak with the tongue of mortals and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.’⁶ This is love. It is ‘that way above the rest,’⁷ which is with good reason signified by the oil. For oil swims above all liquids. Pour in water, and pour in oil upon it; the oil will swim above. Pour in oil, pour in water upon it; the oil will swim above. If you keep the usual order, it will be uppermost; if you change the order, it will still be uppermost. ‘Love never fails.’⁸”⁹

However, we must ask at this point what does love have to do with whether or not these virgins were ready for the coming of the groom. What role does love play in our attitude and actions related to keeping ourselves ready for His return? There is little doubt that in Paul’s mind, love was the one thing that would outlast everything else.¹⁰ In other words, these girls had the instrument that would provide light when needed, but five of them lacked the one thing that made the instrument work and that was the oil of love.

When we apply this same principle to marriage, work, one’s career, parenting, business, and especially to one’s commitment to their faith, the church, the Word of God, the work of God, etc., love is the strongest of motivators. But it also acts as a basic resource as we see in the apostle Paul’s teaching on the fruit of the Spirit. All the fruit involved are based on love and operate best out of love.

Verse 4: “The wise girls took their lamps and more oil in jars.”

So Augustine continues with his sermon: “What is the meaning of ‘took no oil with them?’ What is ‘in their lamps?’ In their hearts. For this reason the apostle wrote, ‘Indeed, this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience.’¹¹ There is the oil, the precious oil. This oil is a gift from God. We can put oil into our lamps, but we ourselves cannot create the olive. See, I have oil. But did I create the oil? It is a gift from God. So you have oil. Carry it with you. What does it mean to ‘carry it with you?’ To have it within, where it is pleasing to God. Note: those ‘foolish virgins, who brought no oil with them,’ wish to please a human audience by that abstinence of theirs by which they are called virgins, and by their good works, when they seem to carry lamps. But wishing to please human spectators, doing praiseworthy works, they forgot to carry with them the necessary oil.”¹²

In other words, all ten virgins went out with their hearts set on meeting the groom and going to the wedding. They all started out with enough love to keep them going. But only five of them took extra love just in case their waiting for the groom to call took longer than what they thought. So when the time came, and the call went out, only those with full and unconditional commitment to their calling were able to be ready. In reading this, it reminds us of what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, the one that John pastored before he was exiled on Patmos: “I know what you do, how hard you work and never give up. I know that you don’t accept evil people. You have tested those who say they are apostles but are not. You found that they are liars. You never stop trying. You have endured troubles for my name and have not given up. But I have this against you: You don’t love me the way you did in the beginning.”¹³

While love is certainly necessary in the believer’s life, it would be hard to explain how a person can carry along extra love just in case things did not happen as planned. Some scholars, therefore, suggest that we should understand the lamp as expressed by the Psalmist: “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my pathway.”¹⁴ Others point to the teaching of Solomon.¹⁵ Yet, these do not explain the factor of extra oil. Unfortunately, Jesus did not give a more definitive explanation of this parable as He did before, such as the one of the farmer sowing seed. So we must look for the core meaning in this illustration. And, when all is said and done as part of deciphering the message, we come away with one clear lesson: Be prepared and ready at all times for His sudden return, no matter how long it takes.