Charles Ellicott Commentary John 8:27

"They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father." — John 8:27 (ASV)

They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. (better, was speaking) — We have seen in the Note on John 8:21 that a new discourse begins there, and that the hearers are not necessarily the same as those who had asked the question and heard the answer of John 8:19.

Still, the speakers then, and those spoken of now, are “the Jews” (John 8:22). They are probably, in part, identical with those of whom our Lord tells us there, that they knew neither Him nor the Father. Of these men, St. John tells us now that they did not know that the Sender and the Father are one.

The statement of their lack of perception, which strikes us as so marvelous, is made just because it was marvelous. St. John remembers it many years afterwards, and remembers that on account of it, Jesus proceeded to declare more fully that every act He did was done in the Father, and that every word He spoke was taught by the Father, and that in every event of His life the Father was present.