The Parable of the 10 Virigins

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The following is based on a series of sermons by John H. Gerstner. Links to his youtube videos can be found at the end of these notes

Jonathan Edwards

— Edwards wrote ten sermons on this parable

— What is the difference between these 5 women who seemed to be Christian

— One group was accepted and the other group was eternally rejected

— The essential difference is not outward behavior but inward motivation

( Matthew 25:1-13)

( 25:1-13 ) “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Church Membership & Christian Forgiveness

The Context

— Eschatological events

— The chapter is preceded by Matthew 24, the little book of Revelation which was in response to the apostle’s question about His coming.

— This 25th chapter follows that thought of His second coming with Christ being the bridegroom coming for His church

— What follows this parable is the parable of the ten talents. A master leaves talents to his servants and r when he returns he asks for an accounting of what they have done; what are we doing with our gifts in service of the master

— And at the very end of this chapter is the sheep and goat judgment which is the fullest picture we have of the judgement of God in the Word of God. This is test of our love for others especially the church of Jesus Christ

— This parable of the Ten Virgins is a study of the heart, of true believers and those who profess Christ

Wedding

— Our weddings take place during the day, but in that day the took place at night

— The bridegroom was slow in coming and when he did come, five of the virgins realized that they were not ready

— They hurry to get themselves ready but when they return the event has passed irretrievably

Clear Meaning

— There is no doubt as to what this parable means

— Some parables are puzzling or are given to obscure

— Christ is speaking to those who think that they are Christians and He uses the very familiar context of a wedding ceremony

— This is a picture of what will happen when He returns but also a picture of what happens to us individually when He comes for us one by bone, if we die before He returns

Judgment

— Everyone who dies will go immediately into the presence of Jesus Christ

— It is just as sudden because no one knows when our appointed time to die will come

— “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” ( Heb 9:27 )

Q: What is the difference between the judgment seat of Christ and the Sheep and Goat Judgment, or judgment of the Gentiles at the end of the chapter ( 25:13ff ), if millions have already been judged when they die?

— The day of judgment (Matt 25:31ff) is not an ordinary judgment as we understand it

— Usually when a judge tries a case the purpose is to discover the situation

— When this judgment occurs it is to reveal what the situation is; this judge knows perfectly

—This judgment is the sentencing

— The final judgment when all mankind is summoned either from hell or from heaven together with those who were alive at Christ’s return and are judged on the spot

— The public judgment follows the private judgments that have been been going on for centuries; the verdict is rendered

— The public judgment establishes the final condition of both groups; those in hell and heaven are in spirit only; in that day we will be complete

— This judgment of the parable of the virgins may happen to all of us individually

— This parable has no meaning for people who know nothing about the Christian religion

Things true and Nominal Christians have in common

— These women are church members, professed Christians

— Members of the Christian church have wise and foolish virgins

— Church membership has never saved anyone

—There is so much bad doctrine, that you can actually be dammed through the church (Damned Through the Church, Montgomery, John Warwick)

— If Jesus says He does not know you, then you do not know Him

Q: There is one place worse than hell, and one place better than heaven. Do you know where that it?

— Right where you are sitting now

— If you have Christ in your heart and are a wise virgin then you are treasuring up treasures in heaven

— Every day that you live you will pile up everlasting treasures

— People who are in heaven now are enjoying it but don’t have the privilege of increasing it

— But there is a place worse than hell, if your profession is nominal, you are building a treasure as well

— Paul said, you are heaping up wrath upon wrath

— The only people that can increase their everlasting torture are those alive today; every day you live you add wrath to wrath; better to have never been born

— “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” ( Matt 18:6 )

— It is worse than to be in hell

Orthodoxy: Parable of the Ten Virgins

— Every wise virgin should also be a church member, and yet some do not

— Christ has established a visible church

— God forbids us to forsake gathering together ( Heb 10:26 )

— You have to receive the Lord’s supper; He has commanded us to do this in remembrance of Him ( Lk 22:19 )

— He has given the keys to the kindgom to the officers of the church and they admit and dismiss ( Matt 18:18 )

— If you call me Lord, do as I say ( Lk 6:46 )

— It is easy to be a church member and not be a Christian

— You can’t be a Christian without being a church member, but you can certainly be a church member without being a Christian

— if you think your church membership takes care of your salvation like your insurance company takes care of your temporal causality, disabuse your mind of that!

— You can be a good paying member of the Christian church and have the Lord of the church say on the last day, “I never knew you!”

The Virgins call Him Lord

( 25:11 ) Lord, Lord, open to us!’

— After the door is shut the virgins cry out, Lord, Lord

— This is the word κύριος (kyrios ) and means lord, master, Lord

— These foolish virgins (speculation) maybe calling Him Lord

— Suggestion that both a true and nominal Christian recognize Christ as Lord and recognize His deity

— A nominal Christian may have both

— Church membership

— But also orthodoxy

— If you are orthodox and can call Him Lord, that doesn’t prove that you are not a foolish virgin

— The fact that you have the sound definition of Christ, and know that if you have seen me you have seen the father, proves nothing.

— Your orthodoxy is no guarantee that you are a true Christian

The word “Know”

— This is a very specialized use of the word “know”

— As God, He is intimately knows them, their plans and the execution of their plans; God is ignorant of nothing

— When He says I never knew you, He means I have no communion with you

— Some will cast out devils in God’s name but Christ says I never knew you ( Matt 7:21-23 )

Universalism

— A pernicious danger is that everyone is saved

—Equally dangerous is a belief that you are saved if you are orthodox

Expecting the Return of Jesus Christ

— This is an eschatological context, which is the final return of Jesus Christ

— The story itself tells us that they are waiting for the Bridegrooms return

— The expectation of the advent doesn’t prove that you are true Christian

— A person can’t be apathetic about the return of Christ and be a Christian

— An acid test of a true Christian is that they look forward to Christ’s return, and in that sense, both groups had lamps to escort the bridegroom to escort him to the celestial wedding

Q: What can we conclude thus far?

— You can belong to a church

— You can believe that Christ is Lord and divine

— You could believe and anticipate the return of Christ

— And yet, you might not be a true Christian

The lesson of the parable: It doesn’t matter how zealous you are for the return of Christ, that does not prove that you are not a foolish virgin. Even though you may be looking forward to His return, that may be the day of doom for you.

Giving, Prayer and Martyrdom

Q: What else could believers and non-believers share that would give no evidence of being a true Christian?

— Confidence in these things would be like leaning on a broken reed

— Giving money liberally

— Some people think that the pocket book test is the acid test

— But giving money does not prove you are a Christian

— Paul says ( 1 Cor 13:3 ) that if you give all your goods to feed the poor, without Christ it profits me nothing

—Christ commended the Pharisees who tithed right down to the “mint and the anise and cummin” ( Matt 23:23 ) but they did it not out of love and certainly not with any love for Him, in fact they did it in hatred of Him

— You can give liberally and not be a Christian but you can’t be a Christian without giving.

— Prayer

— The Pharisees are examples of wicked people who prayed regularly; they took the chief seats in the synagogue ( Matt 23:6 )

— “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.” ( Prov 15:8; 15:29; 28:9; Is 59:2 )

— There is such a thing as the prayer of the wicked ( Ps 66:18 )

—You can pray every 4 times a day and not be a Christian, but you can’t be a Christian and not pray

— Martyrdom

— You might say that Martyrdom is something that only a true Christian could experience.

— “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” ( John 15:13 )

— It is hard to imagine the Lord would reject someone who dies in His name, but scripture says, “and though I give my body to be burned, but not have love, it profits me nothing” ( 1 Cor 13:3 )

— Paul is saying that a person can die in the flames praising God and pass into the eternal fire immediately afterwards

— Not saying that it is probable, and certainly not saying it is common, but even martyrdom can be shared by true and nominal Christians

Being the Means of Other’s Salvation

Q: What would a minister add to this list? Something that would be evidence of being a Christian?

— Bringing others to Jesus Christ

— Being the means of salvation for other persons doesn’t prove that you yourself are saved

— Paul said that there were some in Philippi that hated Paul and preached out of contention ( Phil 1:15 ); those in Galatia preached a false gospel ( Gal 1:8 )

— Though they were wicked, what they preached was saving truth

— Christ gave an example as well at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, in the last day there will be some who have done mighty works in His name and He will say, I never knew you ( Matt 7:22-23 )

None of these are evidence of salvation

Church Membership and forgiveness

Orthodoxy

Anticipating Christ’s return

Giving all you have

Prayer and meditation

Martyrdom

Leading other to Christ

— None of these are proof that this person was not a foolish virgin

— But if you don’t do these things, you can’t be a Christian

Q: Why is Christ telling us this parable?

— It is meant to awaken you to this peril if you have been trusting in these things as evidence of your faith

— Seek the oil while there is still time

— It all turns on the oil of the lamp

Q: What is this oil in the lamp? It means everything to those that posses it, it is utterly tragic for those lack it.

Oil in the Lamp

— Oil in the bible a synonym of joy and blessedness ( Ps 23) ; Aaron being anointed with oil ( Ps 133 ); Oil commonly refers to the Holy Spirit

— This is not an allegory where everything symbolizes something, so we can’t say that oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit

— Weddings took place at night and they needed oil for their lamps, so oil is incidental

— As a matter of theological fact, unless you have the Holy Spirit you will not enter the kingdom; you must be born again ( Jn 3:5 )

The foolish virgins have everything but the Holy Spirit

— Is the Holy Spirit totally absent in the foolish virgins; is it totally present in the wise virgins?

— Hasn’t the Holy Spirit operated on the foolish virgins in some way? Are they total strangers to the Holy Spirit?

— There are two types of work in Scripture

— Upon persons

— Within persons

Upon People

— The Holy Spirit does work in the preaching of the gospel but He works upon some persons in whom He never takes up His residence in

— And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ( Gen 6:3 )

— The Spirit deals with people but He doesn’t change them

— Christ said that His Spirit would bear witness of sin and judgment ( Jn 16:8 )

— His Word ( the Spirit accompanies it, the Word is His sword) does not return to Him void, it accomplishes what He intends it to accomplish ( Is 55:11 )

Q: What is the difference in the Spirit operating upon the foolish virgins as opposed to operating within the wise virgins?

Within Persons

— This is the Holy Spirit becoming the very principle of behavior

— Something new was planted in us at our new birth

— We are born of Him and Paul can say, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” ( Gal 2:20 )

— Sometimes, God pitches His tent inside of us; He becomes the spring of all the person’s behavior

Q: How do I know that I have been born again? How do I know that I have oil in my lamp? How do I know that the Spirit of God is resident in me and not merely acting upon me and convicting me of sin and righteousness and judgment? How do I know that I am a wise virgin?

The Proofs of Salvation

Three ways to know

Experience, direct intuitive knowledge

Extrospection, We all know introspection. When we look inside ourselves privately but penetrating, to see what kind of person we really are. Extrospection is to take an inventory of our lives

Endurance, we must display endurance in our conduct. This is the question that Augustine had, if I have to wait until the end to see if I had endurance, how can I be sure?

Experience

— We can have a direct knowledge of God

— That should not be surprising because He is another person in a sense, and even though infinitely greater than we, He is a person

— If the Spirit of God dwells in your heart you can know Him; God is able to communicate His presence without bodily communication

— Paul said, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” ( 2 Tim 1:12 )

—It is like Christ incarnate is in our presence

— It is a sober fact that you can think that you know God when you don’t know God. This is when extrospection is important

Extrospection

— Look at your heart to see if you really love the Lord

— Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” ( Jn 14:15 )

— If you say you love Him and don’t keep His commandments, then you don’t love Him as you say you do

— When you examine yourself and you find yourself not doing what He specifically command, you are telling Christ that you don’t love him

— There cannot be anything that He has forbidden that you are allowing yourself to practice; there cannot be anything that He has commanded, that you are allowing yourself not to practice; there can’t be anything that you are doubtful about that you are allowing yourself to practice; anything not of faith is sin ( Ro 14:23 )

—Can you truly say

— In so far as I fail, I will ask for His forgiveness, where I am weak I will beg for His empowerment, what you say, I believe, and what you do, I obey

Endurance

— Those who endure to the end will be saved

— Endurance troubled Augustine (one of the greatest theologians)

— He said if a person felt he was a Christian and then said I will be a Christian until the end of his life, that is arrogance and presumption

— Augustine was mistaken because Scripture says that God has begun a good work and He will complete it ( Phil 1:6 ) Christ will finish the work, our boasting is in the Lord

Additional Resources

John Gerstner. Church Membership & Christian Forgiveness: Parable of the 10 Virgins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uv_4615-GE&list=PLhORVCVz3B2b5OjjpJLSG-jcOt0FXvVKl

John Gerstner. Orthodoxy: Parable of the Ten Virgins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jGjApcjOPs&list=PLhORVCVz3B2b5OjjpJLSG-jcOt0FXvVKl&index=2

John Gerstner. Giving, Prayer and Martyrdom: Parable of the Ten Virgins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QfHUZcoiaI&list=PLhORVCVz3B2b5OjjpJLSG-jcOt0FXvVKl&index=3

John Gerstner. Being the Means of Other’s Salvation: Parable of the Ten Virgins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmNTVlMa63w&list=PLhORVCVz3B2b5OjjpJLSG-jcOt0FXvVKl&index=4

John Gerstner. Oil in the Lamp: The Holy Spirit: Parable of the Ten Virgins.

John Gerstner. The Proofs of Salvation: Parable of the Ten Virgins

The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Yale University. http://edwards.yale.edu/

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