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.
The unwelcomed Christ
55-1002 §34
Now, the next thing: the Palestinian sun, the direct rays of there, makes a real hot and blisters the face. And they had oil that they would anoint. And the next man, when he come into a little place, why, they would anoint you, your hands, give you some oil, and you'd rub that---put it on your neck and around your face like that, and it was soothing. Now, oil will get old in a few days; we know that. But they had some sort of a little bean, that comes out of Arabia, like a rose when it's done, and there's a little...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 2:E-33
How thrilling it is to think of those seven lamps drawing life and light from the resources of that main bowl because they had their wicks dipped therein. Each church age messenger is depicted here. His life is on fire with the Holy Ghost. His wick (life) has been immersed in Christ. Through that wick he is drawing the very life of Christ, and by it gives out light to the church. What kind of a light is he giving? The very same light that was in the first lamp that was lit. And right on down the ages to the present...
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §67
QUESTION: Where are the foolish virgins during the millennium? In the millennium they're in the grave. "The rest of the dead live not for a thousand years.
Be certain of God
59-0125 §16
...we all know what she--a widow woman would've went through with, her husband dead and a young boy to raise. And in the lands there they depended on their crops. They didn't have projects as we have today and defense plants. They depended on their crops. And because the iniquity of the people and their moral decaying had brought a drought on the land, here they was all starving and dying. And then we find that no doubt she'd prayed night after night all night, as she begins to see that meal barrel going down, down,...
Church Ages, part 1: Revelation Chapter 1
60-1204M §112
...e a mournful time for them left Gentiles back here, who has rejected Him as their Messiah of this day. They'll be wailing, and weeping. The sleeping virgin will be wailing. That's that church that refused to get oil in its lights. There was ten virgins went out---all good people---but five of them had oil in their lamps. The other five were good people---good people, but failed to get oil in their lamps. And they were cast out into outer darkness, where there'll be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here it is...