A lot has been written and even movies made showing the importance of every word and that there can be hidden meaning in every word in the Bible. At the same time many things that are not hidden are not understood or ignored. Many have been taught to ignore the Bible’s own definition for terms.
In John 8:39 and Romans 8:16-17 the word Children is used to mean a specific people. This is also differentiated from seed.
John 8:39 “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”
Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
In the above Christ acknowledged that those He was talking to were descended from Abraham, that they were of Abraham’s seed, but that they did not qualify as children. Christ’s own definition for the word children includes: They must be born from Abraham. They must have been in bondage.
All of Abraham’s descendants through Jacob had been in bondage many times. Abraham’s descendants through Esau had not.
The “Jews” who were arguing with Christ were not Israelites. They were of Esau who is Edom, Genesis 36. “Edom is in modern Jewry”, The Jewish Encyclopedia
The modern day Jews are not, and have never been, God’s Israel people as proven by the bible, history and Jewish writings.