Does Matthew 5:23-24 mean I should not go to church if I have not confessed to men my sins against men?<\/p>\n\t
“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering<\/em>” (Matthew 5:23-24).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
First, notice that you read this backward. Jesus said that if you are aware that someone has something against you; so in other words, if you realize that someone is mad at you and not necessarily that you are mad at them. The section that these verses come from (Matthew 5:21-26) is about anger between two people. Jesus’ point is that it is important to settle problems quickly, not putting off the discussion — not even for worship.<\/p>\n
Hatred is not a matter that can be ignored. A person cannot rightly worship God while holding a grudge against a brother (I John 3:15). Instead of harboring anger, problems between two people need to be straightened out as quickly as possible. Unresolved problems can quickly grow out of proportion and become major issues that are difficult to bring to an end. Notice the next verse: “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison<\/em>” (Matthew 5:25).<\/p>\n
“It is honorable for a man to stop striving, Since any fool can start a quarrel<\/em>” (Proverbs 20:3).<\/p>\n
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:26-27).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Therefore, this is not a verse about not going to worship. This is a verse about making peace with people as soon as you can.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Does Matthew 5:23-24 mean I should not go to church if I have not confessed to men my sins against men? Answer: “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1503,356,51],"class_list":["post-44892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-anger","tag-attendance","tag-confession"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-dont-make-peace-with-someone-will-this-be-judged-on-judgment-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":0},"title":"If I don’t make peace with someone, will this be judged on Judgment Day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The passage that I'm concerned about is Matthew 5:25-26. Is this saying that if I don't make peace with someone I have hurt, the situation will be judged in court on judgment day? I am trying my best to clarify what this passage means for me. I know we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-cousin-is-upset-that-i-didnt-invite-her-to-my-wedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":1},"title":"My cousin is upset that I didn’t invite her to my wedding","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Pastor, I have a question that has been on my mind recently.\u00a0I was reading in Matthew something like, \"If your brother has something against you, leave your offering at the altar and reconcile.\"\u00a0I remembered a circumstance that happened a while ago, and it's worrying me if I'm right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70936,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-command-to-seek-forgiveness-of-sin-from-a-brother-before-worshiping-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":2},"title":"Is it a command to seek forgiveness of sin from a brother before worshiping God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brother Hamilton, I have a question. Does Matthew 5:21-24 always mean or dictate one must go to their brother whom they have sinned against before they can ask God to forgive them? Answer: \"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-christians-who-find-it-hard-to-forgive\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":3},"title":"What do you think of Christians who find it hard to forgive?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you think of Christians who find it hard to forgive and this prevents us from coming together. What can a Christian do to change his or her unforgiving spirit? How should Christians respond to other Christians who display a non-Christian-like behavior toward us? Answer: \"For if you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31420,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-matthew-525-26-a-reference-to-the-catholic-purgatory\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":4},"title":"Is Matthew 5:25-26 a reference to the Catholic Purgatory?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Matthew 5:25-26 a reference to the Catholic Purgatory? Answer: \"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-tell-others-about-your-sins-they-know-nothing-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":44892,"position":5},"title":"Do you tell others about your sins they know nothing about?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I have a question, and it's kind of been bothering me for a while. When the Bible mentions Matthew 5:23-24,\u00a0\"So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24 leave your gift there before the altar and go.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}