(6) Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the (o) altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
(6) The covetous Pharisees taught that God was appeased by the sacrifices appointed in the law, which they themselves devoured. But Christ on the contrary side denies that God accepts any man's offering, unless he makes satisfaction to his brother whom he has offended: and says moreover, that these stubborn and stiff-necked despisers of their brethren will never escape the wrath and curse of God before they have made full satisfaction to their brethren.
(o) He applies all this speech to the state of his time, when there was then an altar standing in Jerusalem, and therefore they are very foolish that gather from this that we must build altars and use sacrifices: but they are bigger fools who consider this to be purgatory, which is spoken of as peace making and atonement one with another.