[OBW]

I don't think that this verse about being at the altar and having a gift is in any way related to whether it is to be understood under the OT, the NT, or somewhere in between.

The thing that Jesus said was consistent with his teaching on how to pray elsewhere. There he said that we are to ask for God's forgiveness as we also forgive others. In this place, Jesus is saying that in different words. If you think you are coming to God to ask for forgiveness and realize that you need to ask forgiveness of another, you need to deal with that first. Using the reference to the altar was simply representative of the way that the people approached God at the time. Since the new covenant was not year established, and he was speaking to people familiar with the old covenant, he used what they understood.

Surely we know what Jesus said here just as the people of that day did. And we know how it applies to us who do not have an altar of sacrifice to take our "gift" to God. There is no real difference in the new or the old covenant here. Merely the manner in which the exact same thing was "acted out." In the OT, you brought you animal, meal, oil, wine . . . whatever was to be offered on the altar . . . as part of your quest for forgiveness. Under the new covenant, there is no longer an altar or a physical offering in the OT sense. But what we do is the same. We come to God to ask for forgiveness and to seek his salvation, etc.

To a great extent, the Bible is really not so difficult to read and understand. It only seems that way when our teachers try to make everything more complicated than it otherwise should to be. That there is some kind of transitional understanding of this particular verse is just such a complication. It is really a very clear passage. And is applicable today just as it was when Jesus spoke it. The fact that he used the terminology of the old system of the altar and sacrifices really changes nothing.