The parable is one of a sequence of responses to a question in
Matthew 24: Other parables in this sequence include the
parable of the budding fig tree (Matthew 24:32–35) and the
parable of the Faithful Servant (Matthew 24:42–51). The parable of the Ten Virgins reinforces the call for readiness in the face of the uncertain time of the
Second Coming. It has been described as a "watching parable". Like the
parable of the Lost Coin, it is a parable about women which immediately follows, and makes the same point as, a preceding parable about men. the Younger (c. 1616) gives a moralistic interpretation of the parable. Along with most early Christian interpreters of this parable, some today continue to understand it as an allegory, whereby Jesus Christ is the bridegroom, echoing the
Old Testament image of God as the bridegroom in and similar passages, and the virgins are the Christians. The awaited event is the Second Coming of Christ. Other elements in the story, e.g., lamps, oil, delay of the bridegroom, and exclusion of the foolish virgins from the celebration, also often take on various meanings.
R. T. France writes that the parable is "a warning addressed specifically to those inside the professing church who are not to assume that their future is unconditionally assured." This story in its present form in Matthew seems to be an allegory, at least in its implied identification of the bridegroom as the Son of Man (cf. 24:44) and reflection of the church’s experience of delay in his Parousia – although not a full-blown allegory like the Parable of the Sower, where almost every detail of the story has a hidden meaning. It has been argued that its original form, possibly on the lips of Jesus himself, was likely a narrative parable that simply illustrated the contrasting outcomes of groups who prepared themselves for uncertain circumstances and those who did not. The parable does not criticise the virgins for sleeping, since both groups do that, but for being unprepared as they brought no extra oil. It is unclear as to whether the foolish virgins succeed in purchasing any oil that night: most shops would not have been open. The New Testament scholar, Dan O. Via, considers the story of the bridesmaids as an example of a tragic parable with an
inverted U-shaped plot. The rising action of the parable is the preparation for the coming of the bridegroom, but a crisis occurs when the bridegroom is delayed. This is the turning point (reversal or
peripety) that leads to disaster. The parable is not written in praise of virginity, and indeed
Louis of Granada, in ''The Sinner's Guide'' of 1555, writes "No one makes intercession with the Bridegroom for the five foolish virgins who, after despising the pleasures of the flesh and stifling in their hearts the fire of concupiscence, nay, after observing the great counsel of virginity, neglected the precept of humility and became inflated with pride on account of their virginity."
Catholic Friedrich Justus Knecht wrote that this parable shows "the necessity of good works", with the spare oil symbolizing good works stored up by faithful Christians, and the lax Christians being those whose faith did not compel them to active love or good deeds. Jesuit
Roger Baxter writes in his
Meditations for Every Day in the Year:
Eastern Orthodox St.
Seraphim of Sarov's interpretation of this parable occurs in his famous conversation called "Acquisition of the Holy Spirit" in which he said, "Some say that the lack of oil in the lamps of the foolish virgins means a lack of good deeds in their lifetime. Such an interpretation is not quite correct. Why should they be lacking in good deeds, if they are called virgins, even though foolish ones? Virginity is the supreme virtue, an angelic state, and it could take the place of all other good works. I think that what they were lacking was the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God. These virgins practiced the virtues, but in their spiritual ignorance they supposed that the Christian life consisted merely in doing good works. By doing a good deed they thought they were doing the work of God, but they cared little whether they acquired the grace of God's Spirit. These ways of life, based merely on doing good, without carefully testing whether they bring the grace of the Spirit of God, are mentioned in the patristic books: 'There is another way which is deemed good in the beginning, but ends at the bottom of hell.'"
Latter-day Saints Spencer W. Kimball gave an
LDS perspective on the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins, and why they could not share the oil: "This was not selfishness or unkindness. The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable. How can one share obedience to the principle of tithing; a mind at peace from righteous living; an accumulation of knowledge? How can one share faith or testimony? How can one share attitudes or chastity.... Each must obtain that kind of oil for himself." ==Authenticity==