Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings, like the teachings of all prophets, arise in a particular time and place in history. The language used is conditioned by the language which that time and place can hear. Jesus is believed to have spoken Aramaic (a common language of his time and place). His teachings speak to the realities of the people around him – whose daily lives were mediated through Judaic custom, law and teachings. Jesus necessarily spoke in a language connected with those realities — for otherwise it would have been impossible for the people to understand him at all. Nevertheless, we see that although the symbols used are particular to time and place —…