Some Teach That The foolish virgins Must Have Had Some Oil for Their Lamps to Light Up at All and What the Actually Lacked Was Extra Oil. Is This True
No. That is not true. The parable draws a sharp line: some had oil; some did not.
Scriptural explanation:
- “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them” (Matthew 25:3). The wise “took oil in their vessels with their lamps” (Matthew 25:4). That’s the Spirit-supplied life within.
- When the cry came, the foolish said, “Our lamps are going out,” and they tried to borrow and then went to buy (Matthew 25:8-10). If they had the Oil, they wouldn’t need to borrow or buy at midnight.
Simple clarifying logic:
- The lamp is the outward profession; the oil is the Holy Spirit. You can trim a wick and get a momentary flare, but without oil there is no lasting light. That’s why their lamps went out at the crisis.
- The text never says “some” oil or “only lacked extra.” It says they took no oil with them, while the wise had a supply in their vessels. Either you have the indwelling Oil or you don’t—you cannot borrow it, and you cannot rush out to purchase it when the Door is opening.
Short reinforcement:
Now notice, the shut door proves it: those without Oil were not ready. It’s not a matter of “not enough extra,” but of not having the Spirit’s supply when the Bridegroom came.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Church Ages, part 2: The Patmos Vision
60-1204E §81
...ands, which means seven church ages to come. And each pipe, or lampstand, hooked into the main big oil censer. And in ... this oil come forth up to a little odd-shaped lamp that sat with a wick in it, and the wick hung down into the oil. And as long... They poured oil into the top of the stand which filled up the main big stem, the big branch, and it run out into the stems like this. And the lamp, with the wick hanging down this pipe into the ... kept burning day and night. You never had to light it. It never went...
Seals 9: Questions and Answers on the Seals
63-0324M §33
Now, these virgins that come along here, they are the ones that fall asleep and then the whole body is made up together of that group, that goes to make the wise virgins. And the unwise virgins are the ones that started back there at the same time the wise virgins started (antichrist); and they're the ones that tries to buy oil.
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §34
Now, there is the... Now, remember that there is the ... what? The unbeliever. I'll put that "UB," unbeliever, and that's the sinner. And here is another one, which is a formal... I'll put "FO," formal church. And then here is the other one, which is the saved church, "SA," the saved church. Now, keep them in mind all the time. Now, in this saved church, there's two classes, in this church right here and right here, which was typed by Christ. One of them was a sleeping virgin, and the other one had oil in the lamp....
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §116
Oh, don't you see that's why Paul said a woman should never preach the gospel? She was in the... She was the one that was deceived. "I suffer not a woman to teach, or to usurp any authority, but to be in silence," see. For Adam was first formed, and then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived, and being in the transgression. Said notwithstanding, now, she's not lost. She shall be saved in childbearing if she's got a husband, and so forth; she continues on in faith and sobriety, and all holiness...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §156
Now do you understand what the remnant of the Jews is, the 144,000? Where they're sitting, waiting? Right at the hour? Can you see now that the foolish virgin that won't take the ... wouldn't take the oil, and will have to rise and be separated---the rights and wrongs---at the day of the judgment? Do you understand that when the foolish virgin began to receive (just like now) that she needed this, she went after it, it was that very minute that the bridegroom came? Then how close are we? Right now. We have just a s...