Matthew 25:1 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 25:1-13

The virgins. Amongst the great truths taught in this parable we notice these. I. THAT RELIGION ADMITS OF NO NEUTRALITY . 1 . In either things men may be indifferent. 2 . But the relations of existence forbid neutrality in religion. II. THAT UNBELIEF IS THE PARALYZER OF RELIGIOUS ENERGY . 1 . The world appeals vividly to sense. 2 . The foolish sleep without oil in their vessels. 3 . Even the wise are found sleeping. III. ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Matthew 25:1

Then shall the kingdom of heaven - See the notes at Matthew 3:2. The phrase here refers to his coming in the day of judgment.Shall be likened - Or shall resemble. The meaning is, “When the Son of man returns to judgment, it will be as it was in the case of ten virgins in a marriage ceremony.” The coming of Christ to receive his people to himself is often represented under the similitude of a marriage, the church being represented as his spouse or bride. The marriage relation is the most tender,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 25:1

Matthew 25:1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven, &c. Our Lord, having fully informed his disciples of the circumstances and general season of his coming to destroy the Jewish place and nation, that lively, earnest, and strong figure of his future coming to judge the world; he passes, as we have seen, by a natural transition, to a declaration of that dread event; of the watchfulness necessary thereto; and of the punishment to be inflicted upon those who should neglect so to watch and... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 25:1-13

133. The ten girls (Matthew 25:1-13)Matthew 25:0 records three stories or pictures from Jesus, all of which illustrate the teaching he had just given. He would leave the world for an unknown length of time, then return. Those who prepared themselves for his return would enter his kingdom with joy; those who did not would suffer loss. The three passages show three reasons for people’s failure - thoughtlessness, laziness and indifference.A Jewish marriage followed a period of engagement that was... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 25:1

Then = At that point in a then future time. The Structure (p. 1366) shows that this parable formed the closing part of the Lord's teaching on the Mount of Olives (see Matthew 24:1 , Matthew 24:3 ); and was designed to illustrate and enforce His teaching as to watchfulness, in view of the then immediate parousia, conditional on the repentance of that generation in response to the ministry of Peter and the Twelve, beginning at Pentecost, proclaimed and formulated in Acts 3:19-26 . See the... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 25:1

MATT. 25THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS; THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS; SCENES FROM THE FINAL JUDGMENT; THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINSThen shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish, and five were wise ... Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13)This is plainly a parable of the second coming and of the judgment, thus emphasizing the presence of that theme in... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 25:1

Matthew 25:1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened, &c.— The particle then evidently points out the connection of the present parable with the latter part of the preceding chapter. Our Lord having mentioned the rewards and punishments of a future state, in order to animate his disciples to the rigorous discharge of their duty, it was easy and elegant to pass from that subject to the consideration of the general judgment, at which these rewards will be distributed in their utmost... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 25:1

1. Then—at the time referred to at the close of the preceding chapter, the time of the Lord's Second Coming to reward His faithful servants and take vengeance on the faithless. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom—This supplies a key to the parable, whose object is, in the main, the same as that of the last parable—to illustrate the vigilant and expectant attitude of faith, in respect of which believers are... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 25:1

The introductory "then" ties this parable to the subject of the preceding instruction, namely, the Second Coming of the Son of Man. The beginning of the kingdom of heaven is in view. It will be similar to what the following story describes.Jesus probably chose 10 virgins as a good round number that He could later divide into two groups easily. Such a number was also fairly common for marriages of His day. [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:455.] The number probably does not have symbolic... read more