Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 5:23

"If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee," — Matthew 5:23 (ASV)

If you bring your gift to the altar —Literally, If you should be offering. Our Lord was speaking to Jews as such, and therefore paints, as it were, a scene in the Jewish Temple. The worshipper is about to offer a “gift” (the most generic term seems intentionally used to represent any kind of offering) and stands at the altar with the priest waiting to do his work. That is the right time for recollection and self-scrutiny. The worshipper is to ask himself not whether he has a reason for complaint against anyone, but whether anyone has cause for complaint against him. This, and not the other, is the right question at such a moment—has he injured his neighbor by his actions or spoken bitter words against him?