The word often translated as "book" in the Bible was, originally, the word for "scroll." Scrolls were made of a continuous roll of animal skins. When Jesus entered the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, He was asked to read from a scroll containing writings of the Prophet Isaiah. A Torah Scroll contains the Pentateuch, that is, the Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), also called in most English translations "the Law." The Torah Scroll is the central and most holy object in a Jewish synagogue and is venerated by Jewish people in a manner similar to Orthodox Christian veneration of the Gospel Book enthroned on the Altar. Torah scrolls are painstakingly copied by hand using a very careful method so as to guard the transmission of the text. Although scribal errors have occurred and vowel points and spaces and other markings have been added to the Hebrew text over the years, the Hebrew of the Torah is largely close in meaning to the 3rd-century-B.C. Greek translation of the same used in the Orthodox Church. Saint Seraphim of Sarov, in his discussion with Nikolay Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, speaks of the Holy Spirit dwelling in a special degree (though lesser degree than in the Orthodox Church) among the Jewish people to whom God revealed His Torah on Mount Sinai. Jewish people have sought to maintain the text and meaning of the Torah within their religious tradition.

Torah means, literally, "Directive," because it "directs" us or points us beyond itself toward Something or Someone else. The Psalmist declares, "The Directive of Kyrios is perfect, converting the soul" (Psalm 18:8[19:7]). According to the Apostle Paul, the Torah holds the formula of knowledge and truth (Romans 2:20). Saint Paul calls the Torah "holy" (Romans 7:12), "spiritual" (vs. 14), and "good" (vs. 16), although he also admits that the Holy Torah wields a curse upon anyone who fails to do everything it commands (Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10). The Holy Torah makes us aware of sin (Romans 3:20) and delivers the just sentence of death to the soul that sins (Genesis 2:17; Ezekiel 18:4, 20). Although the Torah directs humanity towards holiness, it is powerless to bring about the degree of holiness which is its goal because the humans it attempts to direct are subject to the failings of mortal flesh (Romans 8:3).

The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ is the ΤΕΛΟΣ of the Torah Directive (Romans 10:4). Christ alone, the ΤΕΛΟΣ, kept both the letter and Spirit of the Law (Hebrews 4:15). He is "the Only Sinless One" (Sunday "Orthros" Service). ΤΕΛΟΣ can mean "target," "goal," or "culmination." So Paul's statement can mean that Christ is the target of the Directive. He is the Torah's Goal. The Torah reaches its culmination in Him. When Christ says, "It is finished," on Golgotha (John 19:30), He is using the verbal form ΤΕΤΕΛΕΣΤΑΙ of the noun "ΤΕΛΟΣ." This word could be translated as, "It Has Culminated." In other words, through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, the objective of the Torah, the point of the Directive, is culminated or fulfilled. Christ Himself declares that He came, not to destroy the Torah, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He is baptized in Jordan in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Christ fulfills the Torah through each and every moment of His entire incarnate life on earth (Luke 2:39-40), culminating in His sacrificial crucifixion, bearing the sins of the world in His flesh (John 1:29; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:24), becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13-14), nailing our sins and the Torah's curses to His cross (Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 10:27), and trampling down death by death (Paschal Troparion). When He cried on the Cross, "It Is Finished," or "It Is Culminated," He entrusted or "traditioned" (ΠΑΡΕΔΩΚΕΝ) His Spirit (John 19:30). Having risen from the dead, He breathed the Spirit upon His Apostles and Bishops, granting them the authority to remit and retain sins (John 20:22-23). Then at Pentecost, the Jewish Feast of the Giving of the Torah at Sinai, Christ, in His ascended, Incarnate Life, seated on the Throne of Deity, fulfilled the Torah by sending His Holy Spirit to the faithful "that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).

The Holy Spirit, given to the Church at Pentecost, the Jewish Feast of Shavuot, is the Spirit of the Torah--the Holy Torah which is the Spirit Himself written on the human heart (Jeremiah 31:33-34; II Corinthians 3:3; Hebrew 8:10-12). This Law of the Spirit, which goes forth from Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3) on the Day of Pentecost, stands in vivid contrast to the mere letter of God's Law (II Corinthians 3:6). The Torah of the Spirit is the Law of Love (Romans 5:5; 8:2; Galatians 5:14; I John 4:7-21). "For the entire Torah is fulfilled in one word, even this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 7:12; 22:37-40; Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14; 6:2). In this way, the Law of Faith does not annul the Holy Torah of God, but rather confirms it and raises it to its proper employment (Romans 3:31), which is to direct us to Christ, Who offers Himself to us in Holy Communion as the antidote for sin and death and enables us to walk in holiness through the Love and Power of the Holy Spirit. Faith works through Love (Galatians 5:6). Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ( )