37. Having answered the conclusion οὐδενὶ δεδουλεύκαμεν πώποτε (Joh 8:33), Jesus proceeds to deal with the premise from which it was drawn. He admits their claim in their own narrow sense. They are the natural descendants of Abraham: his children in any higher sense they are not (Joh 8:39). Comp. ‘neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children’ (Rom 9:8).
οὐ χωρεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν. Maketh no advance in you. His word had found place in them for a very short time; but it made no progress in their hearts: it did not abide in them and they did not abide in it (Joh 8:31). They had stifled it and cast it out. See on Joh 8:31.