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 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §65
...e, these of all nations, the Gentiles which is the bride, are before the throne of God, with Him day and night. Remember what we said last night and talked on it? ...and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, or any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and ... lead them into living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe ... all tears from their eyes.
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §12
When I was a little boy up here on the Utica Pike, they had an old... There was a fellow named Elmer Frank used to live over here. He was kind of an attorney-at-law. He married a young lady up there on the road that ... my father worked for her father. Her name was Luscher. And he had some kind of an automobile that had a crank. You'd get down on the side, and cranked it like this. And it only had one gear. And you had a big rubber thing for a horn you'd blow it like that. And they said that thing would go the terr...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §30
...f the southern districts of the Public Service Company, when I worked for them. I was just studying in the Scriptures as a boy. And he said, "Billy, anybody..." Said, "John must have eat some red pepper, and had a nightmare out there on the Isle of Patmos." I said, "Mr. Bohanon, you shouldn't have said that." He was my boss, supervisor. He said, "Well, who in the world could understand that?" I said, "It's understood. It'll be understood when the Holy Spirit's ready to reveal it." That's right. And he said, "Oh, my...
Questions and Answers on Genesis
53-0729 §94
Now, when a woman goes to cut out a pattern for a skirt, you talk about it. She lays the goods out (is that right?), the piece of goods. And she lays her pattern down on this. She does the fixing where the pattern is to be cut. Right? O brother, this really do you good. Who does the electing? God does the electing! Is that right? It's not me to say; it's Him to say. And He places the pattern over who He will. Is that right? Now, there was ten virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom. Is that right? What is "virgin"?...
Pride
55-0807A §39
...he passes you into another place, and then there's a man meets you there at the door, and he has a little basin in his hand, a little pitcher like. And you take it and pour some of the oil in your hands. Now, that oil is made of a very fine spikenard. What it is, there's a bush that grows in Arabia that they get it from. A little flower blooms like a rose, and then when the rose goes down, it leaves a little bulb like and that hardens like a little apple. And that's the thing that this tree does, but you can take t...