Matthew 25:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 25:1

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(Synoptics: Matthew 25:1-13)The Parable of the Ten Virgins used to be called the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. That is a better name. They are young women acting as something like bridesmaids with a function to perform at the wedding ceremony. Marriage started with the betrothal ceremony in the bride’s house. It was binding, although the two were not yet married and did not live together for at least a year. One year later on a Wednesday, the bridal procession, going from her house, would meet up with the bridegroom’s procession. There would be a ceremony in which a dowry was paid, and certain words were spoken. He would say, ‘Be thou my wife according to the law of Moses and Israel …’, the bride would consent, and then there would be the feast. The bride is not mentioned in Christ’s parable, and it is not said exactly what stage in the proceedings the parable is referring to, but it is the day of the marriage, and the ten virgins are expected to be ready to carry their lamps and light the way. Here are bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to appear, and he is taking an unusually long time to appear. It is late and it is getting dark. They were to accompany the bridegroom and provide light for the processing. They were to be ready wherever he came, yet not knowing precisely when that would be. This was why they were such an apt picture of those who wait for the coming of the Lord. The groom represents Christ comes for his bride, the church. The bridesmaids are all of us. The oil or lack of it stands for spiritual life in the soul. To be caught out with no spiritual life is the ultimate disaster. It is a parable of warning, and at the heart of it is something that might seem farfetched. Wouldn’t they be concerned about being caught out? Wouldn’t they think of this? Yes, but that is why the Lord uses this picture. It illustrates another extraordinary aspect of our spiritual failure to respond to the gospel.

Application

We too amazingly go through life without thinking of this: that we are created beings who will soon have to meet our God. The parable is a description of all the people in this world who either think they know God, or else are not worried about it and sail through life with no care at all. We shrug off any concern. It is something unthinkable. The wise have spiritual life within them. They realise the bankruptcy of the soul and their need of life, and they have realised why he came, and repented, and gone to Christ for salvation. Now they pray to God daily, and love him. All life is lived in that context.

This parable not only describes those who are in the kingdom but those who are barred from entering it, for all things derive their significance from their relation to the kingdom of heaven and its affairs. Where we will spend eternity is the topic of this parable, and though the illustration seems homely, it illustrates the most solemn of subjects. It is for this reason that the bridegroom’s words to the foolish virgins are uncharacteristically solemn. Christ says these things to provide a solemn warning that will itself be the means of deliverance for some. It is certain that these things must take place, but God has left room for many to escape from hell, who without this warning would perish, and this parable is itself a means of escape. How seriously then we should take the kindly warnings of the Lord here!

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Matthew 25:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Matthew 25:1