(Say the Jesus Creed morning and evening during Lent.)
Matt 25:1 ?At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep …..
Here again… parable … we anticipate fuller discussion when we get to Klyne Snodgrass’ treatment of this parable.
1. The kingdom is compared to a wedding at which five virgins were ready to see it all and five were not.
2. The overriding theme here is judgment and being ready for the event.
3. I’m not so sure it does much good to speculate what “oil” means — it means they were ready — but whether or not it refers to Spirit or something like that is speculative.
4. Kingdom is future; the point is to be ready for it when it comes.
How is one ready? By having oil — which means… attitude, commitment to Jesus, and behavior consistent with such.