THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS (MATTHEW 25:1-13)

Physical Picture

Background:“To the frustration of all interpreters of this parable, information about wedding customs 

in the ancient world is relatively sparse, and practices may have differed from place to place.” 

There is no present Middle Eastern custom in which maidens accompanied the bridegroom, only the 

bride as she went to meet the groom. Similar wedding customs in the Middle East today include the 

use of ten bridesmaids. There are two possibilities: (1) If the virgins belong to the groom's clan, he is 

escorting his bride to his house after a banquet at the bride's home.” (2) If they are at the bride's house, 

they are her friends and wait with her for the coming of the groom. They will go out to meet him when 

his approach has been announced and escort him to the bride's house for a banquet. (Snodgrass) Notice 

that in either case, they are making a round trip.

 

The lamp would have to be an outdoor lamp—pole with oil-soaked rags on top. You needed to 

replenish quite often with olive oil to keep it lit. Concerning the exact nature of the lamps or torches, 

Snodgrass says, “This debate has received more attention that in deserves.”

In the case of the Unfaithful Servant, the master came sooner than expected, but in this case the groom 

comes later. Take the example of the late 60's when many Christians were absolutely convinced that 

Jesus was coming again in less than a year.

Israel's role as bride of God is going to be replaced with image of Christ marrying the church, his bride. 

This will happen when the bridegroom seals the New Covenant with his blood. (Albright and Mann) 

The bridegroom probably represents Jesus, but other allegorical identifications are probably not 

intended (such as the two groups of virgins = Jews and Gentiles, sleep = lack of vigilance, oil = the 

Holy Spirit or good works). A.B. Bruce adds that the oil may stand for anything you please. 

Some parables are ethical in nature, some concentrate on theology, some can be interpreted best historically, while this one is more prophetic in nature. It involves the Last Days, but in a broader sense involves each of our last days.

Verse 1 This whole verse is the heading or title for the parable; the bridesmaids did not go out twice 

(v.6).

Verse 6 Any analytical concordance will show that there are about ten different Greek words which 

could have been used here for “meet/meeting.” It will also show that the particular word used in I 

Thessalonians is apantesis, which only appears here and in two other places in the NT: the parable of 

the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25) and toward the end of Acts where the Roman Christians 

greet Paul at the edge of the city and escort him back into the city.

“The use of apantesis in I Thess. 4:17 is noteworthy. The ancient expression for the civic welcome of 

an important visitor or the triumphal entry of a new ruler into the capital city, and thus to his reign, is 

applied to Christ. The same thoughts occur in the parable of the ten virgins. The virgins leave to meet 

the bridegroom, i.e. The Lord, to whom they wish to give a festive reception (Matt. 25:6).”

(W. Mundle, Dictionary of NT Theology) 

 

Kistemaker (The Parables of Jesus) explains that the bridesmaids were waiting at the bride's house for 

the groom to arrive to take his bride to the ceremonies. They are told that he is on his way and that they 

should go out and meet him with torches to light his way back to the bride's house.

What do commentators say about Acts 28:15? “Apantesis was almost a technical term for the official 

welcome of a visiting dignitary by a deputation which went out from the city to greet him and escort 

him for the last part of his journey.” (F.F. Bruce, The Book of Acts, p. 527) So these two other uses are 

much more consistent with the understanding of the historical premillenialists and amillennialists. But 

since none of these commentators is a dispensationalist, maybe they all have an ax to grind and can't be 

trusted. So I next went to the Bible Knowledge Commentary. All of the authors there are professors at 

Dallas Theological Seminary, which is very strongly dispensationalist.

“The noun apantesin, translated as an infinitive 'to meet,' was used in Greek literature of an entourage 

coming out of a city to meet an official going to the city. It is also used in I Thessalonians 4:17, which 

speaks of believers being 'caught up...to meet the Lord in the air.'” (Stanley D. Toussaint, The Bible 

Knowledge Commentary: New Testament) So how does Toussaint deal with the fact that the word 

picture contradicts the idea that the believers will escape from earth at this point?

 

He continues, “Like an entourage, believers will go up at the Rapture into the clouds to meet Jesus, 

their Savior and Lord, coming from heaven to take them to Himself.” He stops at the point that Jesus 

takes believers to Himself and doesn't say where they go from there. In the same commentary it states, 

 “The place where the Christians will be was not so important to Paul as the Person with whom they 

will be.” (Thomas L. Constable) It is a beautiful thought but again evades completely the question of 

where we are all going at that point, and the whole idea of the Rapture happens to depend on this one 

point.

 

Verses 8-9 This is not a teaching on ethical behavior, and besides all of their lamps would probably 

gone out if they had shared. “Watching is not a passive activity, merely watching for an event to occur, 

but a metaphor for readiness and faithful fulfillment of the Christian calling.” “Living as a wise human 

means being prepared for God's reign. Readiness is an attitude, a commitment, and a lifestyle.” 

(Snodgrass)

Quiz

A. Which of the following statements can be reasonably inferred from the Parable of the Wise and 

Foolish Virgins?

    1. Preparedness for the coming of Christ is not transferable from one person to another. Non-

sharing of oil story is probably to show that ultimately we all stand before the judgment throne 

alone. “Spiritual preparedness is not something that can be passed around in the time of crisis.” 

 

    2. A true Christian is one who is in it for the “long haul.”

 

    3. It is important for believers to know the signs that will precede the Second Coming so that we can 

know how to properly live our lives. What if we knew that Christ was coming tomorrow? How 

would we live our life differently? This is an old question. What are our comments about it?

Are we really told to look for signs to figure out when it will happen? That idea is usually based on one particular interpretation of Revelation and of Matthew 24-5 (and parallels).

I witnessed an example in the 70's of someone who was not worried about maxing out her credit cards and those in the 80's who were not worried about making long term plans for family, finances, etc. since they had figured out Christ was coming before they would have to worry about it.

    4. For those who are unsaved before they die, there will be no second chances.

 

    5. The foolish virgins represent Christians who fail in some important way at the last moment of 

their lives and therefore lose their salvation. The ending with its “I never knew you” is reminiscent 

of other occasion when Jesus said this (Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 14:25)—the context there refers to 

those who did not do the will of the Father. Indicates that here also the problem is those who 

profess faith but do not show by their life that they really have it. They don't take seriously the 

fact that Jesus is coming again in judgment and therefore don't live their lives accordingly. 

Exclusion forever from the banquet implies that their sin was something more than just poor 

calculation of their resources. Note that Jesus says, “I never knew you,” not “I no longer know 

you.” 

 

    6. Christ's Second Coming will be sudden and at an unexpected time. Various teachings that stress 

we don't know when Christ is coming so be prepared. What does this really mean? Key 

admonitions in Matt. 24-25 are to stay awake, be prepared, be wise. If it doesn't mean to stay 

alert for the various signs of the Second Coming, what does it mean? Notice that even the wise 

virgins could sleep peacefully because they were already prepared for any circumstance. See I 

Thessalonians 5:1-11 for further explanation of what it means to be awake: be sober, don't be surprised, 

have faith, love, hope, encourage one another.

 

7. Christ's Second Coming is imminent; that is, it will occur within the next 10 years. “Imminent” 

means at any time, not within a given length of time.

Compare this story with two other parables. It is similar to the Parable of the Unfaithful Servant, but in 

that story the master came sooner than expected. In the present case the groom comes later. Take the 

example of late 60's when many Christians were absolutely convinced that Jesus was coming again in 

less than a year. Another parallel is found in the parable of the soils. Which of the four types of soil 

does the group of foolish virgins most resemble? The foolish virgins are somewhat like the seed that 

is sown on rocky soil and grows for a while but then dies because it has no root.