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Why do some traditions recite the Lord's Prayer word for word?

I know a lot of Christians that do this, but I am having trouble understanding why. Is the Lord's prayer recited by anyone anywhere else in the Bible other than when Jesus first says it to the disciples?

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  • this is related and addresses the first part of your question christianity.stackexchange.com/q/7098/432 As for the second part there is no other repetition of the Lord's prayer as far as I am aware in the NT.
    – Ryan
    Apr 24, 2012 at 17:52
  • Welcome to Christianity--StackExchange! I agree with @ryanOptini--we've had a virtually identical question. Point #2 is a different question, but it's pretty easy to answer with a quick search or a check of a study Bible's cross-references. But you could probably edit the question to get at what you seem to be really asking, which is why some traditions recite the prayer word for word.
    – Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
    Apr 24, 2012 at 18:10
  • thanks for the comments. i didn't see that other topic which has good information on this topic.
    – Greg
    Apr 24, 2012 at 19:43
  • yeah, that is perhaps what i'm really wondering, jon -i updated the question
    – Greg
    Apr 25, 2012 at 12:57

2 Answers 2

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There are two main reasons we recite the Lord's Prayer in worship:

  • It is a model prayer that Jesus gave us to teach us how to pray. We recite it to remind ourselves what genuine prayer looks like.
  • We pray it as a group to unify the congregation. When we recite the Lord's Prayer, we are all speaking to God with one voice.
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2) Is the Lord's prayer recited by anyone anywhere else in the Bible other than when Jesus first says it to the disciples?

There are similarities between the Lord's Prayer and others prayers recited in those days as the Kaddish. So it could be said that Jesus used a common pattern to make up His prayer based in what they know: Jewish traditions. We don't have references to say that anyone anywhere else recited it.

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