Christian Message Boards: the parable of the 10 virgins

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Posted by Eden (Member # 5728) on :

I realize that it is common teaching that the 10 virgin parable refer to 10 Christians, who are further divided in 5 "wise" Christians and 5 "foolish or false" Christians.

And that the Christian "with oil" is a "wise" virgin" and that the Christian "without oil" is a "foolish" virgin".

But I tend to disagree with that traditional interpretation of the 10 virgin parable.

Jesus spoke this 10-virgin parable to the people in Judah/Benjamin/Levi (i.e., to the kingdom of Judah) around 30 A.D. (no need to be exact, 30 A.D. is close enough for this discussion).

And in 30 A.D. Jesus said to the people of Judah: Hear the parable of the 10 virgins...

And then Jesus proceeds to tell His Judaic audience that the 5 wise virgins have oil in their lamps but the 5 foolish virgins do not have oil in their lamps.

Jesus is saying this to Judah while Jesus is still preaching to Judah. I therefore think that the meaning of the 10 virgins is as follows.

The 5 wise virgins of Judah who had taken oil for their lamps were the people in Judah who wisely believed that Jesus was the Son of God of Psalm 2:12:

Psalm 2
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him.

These are the 5 wise virgins of the parable of Jesus; they have accepted Jesus as the Savior.

The 5 foolish virgins were they in Judah who did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and therefore they had no oil in them, meaning they did not have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, and they were not given the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts.

These are the 5 foolish virgins in the parable that Jesus spoke to Judah.

The parable is still applicable to us worldly people in that we still have to choose to either be a wise virgin or remain a foolish (try dumb) virgin, but the original parable was not about Christians but Jesus spoke the parable to Judah because Judah had to choose.

Us Christians came a-later. [Kiss]

So, as I said at the top of my post: I don't think that the parable of the 10 virgins refers to 10 Christians, as is commonly taught.

But I think that the parable of the 10 virgins refers to 5 wise virgins of Judah who accepted Jesus (had oil in their lamps) and to 5 foolish virgins of Judah who did not accept Jesus (had no oil in their lamps).

Matthew 25
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them who sell and buy for yourselves.

Now, as for the phrase, but go you rather to them who sell and buy for yourselves, I think this means: the ones who buy and sell referred to Jesus and to those who were preaching the gospel in Judah and Galilee. By GO AND BUY FOR YOURSELVES, the 5 wise virgins meant, "believe the [Cross]

in the

.

GO BUY FOR YOURSELVES lest there be not enough for us:

Matthew 25
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and for you: but go rather to them who sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us!"

12 But he answered them and said, Truly I say to you, I do not know you."

13 Watch therefore, for you do not know either the day or the hour wherein the Son of man comes.

The 10 virgin parable was thus not about 10 Christians, with 5 Christians who were "true" Christians, and 5 Christians who were "false" Christians, but this 10 virgina parable was about Judah. The wise in Judah will accept Jesus and the foolish in Jduah will not accept Jesus. It is NOT about 10 Christians.

However, what played out in Judah was a mini-play of what would happen in the world in general afer the 1st century A.D.

After the 1st century A.D., the people of the world (the Gentiles were now included in having to choose for Jesus or not), the people of the world now have to choose, just like Judah, and choose to be just like the 5 wise virgins of Judah, or to be just like the 5 foolish virgins of Judah. But the parable is NOT about 10 Christians who are divided into 2 groups of 5 Christians each.

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE WISE VIRGINS. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CHRISTIAN WHO IS A FOOLISH VIRGIN.

with love, eden

Posted by Michael Harrison (Member # 6801) on :

Oops! There went the parable of the talents, wherein what one thought he had obtained, was taken from him and given to him who had ten.

Posted by Eden (Member # 5728) on :

Michael Harrison, what did your comment mean? I did not understand it. thanks, eden

Posted by becauseHElives (Member # 87) on :

eden in the parable of the talents the servant with one talent acted foolishly....

what he had in his possession was taken away...

never forget in the parable of the 10 virgins they all had oil....(oil equals the Holy Spirit)only the foolish did not bring extra....

the foolish neglected this great Salvation, just as the servant neglected doing anything with his talent....

only the foolish did not bring extra....

everything in scriptures pertains to Salvation in one way or the other

Posted by Forever His (Member # 25) on :

Hi Eden . I have to say that I do apreaciate your spirit and desire to dig into the scriptures for yourself. Here is something that I wish for you to consider.

If you go back to Mat 24: 3 you will see that the disciples have asked Jesus a question pertaining to events preceeding the end of the world. Jesus gave a detailed description of events that would help them ... "and us " to identify where we are in the scope of time. He moved through events leading up to the fall of Jerusalem, and onward to the end of time. He then gave the parable of the fig tree so we would know when we are "very" close.

Because He knew that the devil was going around seeking to deceive He then told his followers to be faithful in watching and waiting [ Mat 24:46-51 ]

Then He continued [ please remember that there were no chapter titles in His sermon] and went into " Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom... "

As I look at these verses and then look a Mat. 25:31-46 it would seem obvious that Jesus was looking forward [ at the beginning of Mat 24 ] and fortelling the events of history right down to the very end of time... which would seem consistent to the question that the disciples asked.

Anyway... I hope this is somehow helpful and while I agree that Jesus was talking primarily to the house of Israel... I belive that His ways are "FAR REACHING" and that He was adressing His followers down until the end of time.

Does this make any sense ???

Your brother in Christ

Love
Forever His