Luke 11:2-4. When ye pray, say. That this is not a positive command to repeat the words of the Lord's prayer whenever we pray, is evident from the briefer form here recorded. These were the words of our Lord on a second occasion, when the substance (not the exact form) of the prayer was repeated. For the form, see the foot-note to text. Luke wrote after Christianity had made considerable progress; the twofold form indicates that in his day the Lord's Prayer was not yet in universal use as a form of prayer. It is impossible to say how early the liturgical use of it began. If our Lord gave but one form, the briefer one was probably enlarged into the longer one; but it is almost certain that both were given.

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Old Testament