I received a question from a friend of mine wondering about the symbolism in one of Jesus’ parables. It was from the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–13. To paraphrase, the story goes something like this: Ten young ladies took their oil lamps and were waiting for their bridegroom to arrive. We are told that five were wise and the other five were foolish. The reason they were foolish was that those five forgot to bring a supply of oil to keep their lamps lit so the bridegroom could find them when he got there. It takes a while for the bridegroom to arrive, so the ladies fall asleep. When they wake up, the ones without oil have to run to the store to get some more, but while they’re gone, the groom comes and they miss the boat (my loose paraphrase…).

The question that was asked had two parts. The first part referred to the oil. What or whom does the oil in the story represent? Is it the Church? Or is it some other particular group? The second question asked who the foolish virgins were supposed to represent.

In order to answer, I think we need to employ some basic interpretational ground rules. The first one is the Context Rule and the second is the Genre Rule. The Context Rule tells us to always interpret a scripture based on the context around it. In other words, “What is the big picture? What is the main idea that this particular scripture is part of?” In the case of Matthew, Chapter 25, it should be viewed in the context of Chapter 24, which deals with the second coming of Christ. Mainly, it talks about being prepared for Jesus’ return. The point is that no one knows when He is coming back, so just be ready!

The Genre Rule tells us to be cognizant of the type of literature we are reading. In the scriptures, we know that there are many different forms of literature presented (or genres). Some parts are written as poetry, for example. Others are written as history, biographies, or as wise sayings. Each genre has its own particular rules for understanding. The portion of scripture we are dealing with in Matthew, Chapter 25, is a parable. A parable, by definition, is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels. The point of this particular story is to always be ready for the return of the Lord because we don’t know when He’s coming back.

Now, to address the question about the oil: Although oil can sometimes be used to represent the Holy Spirit or even the blood of Christ, not everything used in illustrations has symbolic meaning. We should be careful that we don’t fall into the trap of trying to “over-spiritualize” every passage. Sometimes things just plainly mean what they say they are.

It is the question about the foolish virgins that really deals with the gist of the story. The foolish are those who are not “ready” for Christ’s return. It seems to be those who pretend to love God but are living their lives as if Christ’s return is not really going to happen. We must realize that we can’t “share our readiness” with anyone else. It is up to each individual person to be ready to meet the Lord when He comes back.

We can see that by paying attention to both context and genre we can avoid making a passage say something it never intended to say. We never want to force our meaning into a scripture; we must let the scripture speak to us.

Matthew 25:13: “Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (NIV)