Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 25:3

"For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them:" — Matthew 25:3 (ASV)

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

They thought that if they had the external, it would be quite enough. The secret store of oil, they judged to be unnecessary because it would be unseen.

They would employ one hand in carrying the lamp. But to occupy the other hand by holding the oil flask seemed to them to be doing too much—giving themselves up too thoroughly to the work. So they took their lamps, and took no oil with them.

They might just as well have had no lamps at all.

They may have thought that, if they had lamps that were similar to those carried by others, it would be sufficient. Perhaps they judged that the secret store of oil, being unseen, was unnecessary. They were willing to carry a lamp in one hand, but to devote the other hand to the care of an oil-flask was more than they were willing to do.

It is the lack of the oil of grace that is the fatal flaw in many a professor’s lamp. Many have a name to live, but have not the life of God within their souls. They make a profession of attachment to Christ, but they have not the inward supply of the Spirit of grace to keep it up. There is a glitter or a flash, but there is no permanent light and there cannot be any, for although they have lamps, they have no oil with them.