Biology books that explain the science of human reproduction provide all the intricate details of how human life is conceived. In those books, we can learn everything necessary to understand every facet of the process of human life reproducing human life.
But, regardless of how many times a female reads that information, believing it with all of her being, there is not a single instance in which, merely believing what she has read in the biology book can make her pregnant. Simple belief in facts is not what produces life. For human life to be reproduced, there must be a transfer of that which actually creates the life.
The same is true of spiritual life. When man was created, Yah said, “Let US make man in OUR image.” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are that image. Mind, body, and spirit is what comprises every living human being. But, because of Adam’s sin, the spirit in man is dead in its sin (unbelief).
The soul of man is eternal, and will dwell somewhere forever, whether it is in heaven or in the lake of fire, it will always be. The body, in its present form, is simply the shell into which the soul is placed. The spirit in the unbeliever is dead, and will eternally remain dead—but his soul will permanently exist in the second death, which, after the first death (being born with a dead spirit), is the eternal lake of fire where Satan, his demons, and the unbelievers will spend eternity. Both the first and second deaths are spiritual, not physical. The real substance is ALWAYS spiritual.
Unbelief (dead spirit) being the only sin that condemns anyone to hell, the repentance necessary, then, to be born again, is repentance from unbelief, which is to believe. And, it is that belief that makes a man ABLE to be saved—to receive the seed (1 John 3:9).
But, for the spirit to be made alive in a person, there must be a transfer of the seed that creates life, just as it is with human reproduction. Human belief (agreeing with spiritual truth) is what makes a person fertile for the seed—it makes him ABLE to receive spiritual life. To put it into physical terms, it is spiritual “ovulation.” Without that ovulation, there can be no conception through the receiving of the seed. And, without the seed, there can be no life created.
Human belief is the necessary prerequisite, but the seed itself is life. Human belief is not the seed. The seed must come from a living source that possesses it. Written words are not living. Reading a book will not transfer anything that is alive to anyone. Written words contain no life (even though much of christianity falsely refers to their bible as “the living word.” That is a completely false interpretation of WHO the living Word is—He is not a book).
As with many spiritual truths presented for us in the scriptures, there are physical foreshadows first, and then spiritual real substances revealed later. The process of spiritual reproduction is represented for us in circumcision. The part of man from where life flows was circumcised as a sign of being one of Yah’s physical people—a physical foreshadow that would be revealed in Yah’s spiritual people, which is the real substance.
As Paul tells us in Romans 2:29, those who are Yah’s children have circumcised hearts, which, as he explains, makes a person a true Jew in Yah’s eyes—the spiritual real substance of that word (the physical Jews were only a foreshadow of the true Jews, which is spiritual, not physical). Those who have been made Jews by spiritual adoption make up the real substance of Y’isra-el, which is the name of Messiah’s bride. The physical Jews (foreshadow) who rejected Messiah were CUT OFF from Y’isra-el, who is Messiah’s bride (Romans 11).
The real substance of physical circumcision, which was a physical sign upon that which is used to reproduce physical life, is the sign placed upon that which reproduces spiritual life—the circumcised heart. So, when Messiah Yahoshua told His disciples to go and “baptize” others, He was not speaking of water baptism, which was a physical foreshadow under the law, but spiritual baptism, which is the real substance of baptism.
For that spiritual baptism to occur, the spiritual seed must be transferred, and that only happens from a circumcised heart. That is what we see happening in Acts 8:14-17. The Samaritans had believed, and they had been baptized in water, which is an invitation for cleansing. But, it wasn’t until Peter and John came to them that the seed of spiritual life was transferred to them. They received the Holy Spirit. They were spiritually baptized. Nobody got back into water (foreshadow) once they were baptized by the Holy Spirit (real substance).
Just as a girl cannot get pregnant by reading a biology book, neither can someone receive the spiritual seed, the Holy Spirit, merely by reading scripture. That spiritual transfer of the spiritual seed, who is the Holy Spirit, comes by actual contact between humans. Human life reproduces human life. Spiritual life reproduces spiritual life.
That is why Messiah did not tell His disciples to go and put tracts in public places, or hand out scrolls of scripture for people to read. He did not tell them to send people to synagogues so they could hear unbelieving Jews read the scriptures. No, He told them to go physically, and baptize people (transfer the seed that is in them to others). That does not happen by reading a book.
There are two things necessary to reproduce physical life: the mother’s ovulation and the father’s seed. The same is true of spiritual life: the bride’s belief (ovulation) and the giving of the Holy Spirit (seed) by the Father.
For more information: Circumcision and Spiritual Reproduction