John 1:12 talks about people receiving the Lord and being reborn with pure hearts and living as angels. This verse shows where such acceptance and life must come from – first by showing where they do not come from.

"Blood" here means a desire to deny and resist what the Lord teaches, in the Bible and in earlier forms of His Word. "The will of the flesh" means a craving for selfishness and evil. "The will of man" means the false reasoning that erupts from selfishness and justifies it. If we allow our eternal selves to be born of those things – denying the Lord’s leadership, serving ourselves and justifying it in our own minds – we will end up in hell. But if our eternal selves are born "of God," under His leadership and serving His will, then we will be the sons of God described in the previous verse, living in peace and joy in heaven.

(Reference: Arcana Coelestia 1608 [2], 2531 [4], 8409 [3], 9241, 9454; Teachings about the Lord 18 [5]; The Apocalypse Explained 151 [5], 745 [4])

9454. These mercies are what is meant in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, ¹ nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (vir), but of God. John 1:12-13.

Those born 'of blood' are people who are opposed to forms of the good of faith and charity, 'of the will of the flesh' those who are immersed in evils springing from self-love and love of the world, and 'of the will of man' those who are steeped in falsities arising from those evils. Being 'born of God' means being regenerated. The truth that no one can enter heaven unless he is being regenerated is stated in the same gospel,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:3, 5.

'Being born of water' means through the truth of faith, and 'being born of the spirit' through the good of love. All this now makes it clear who exactly they are whose sins have been forgiven, and who exactly they are whose sins have not been forgiven.

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