John Calvin Commentary John 7:31

"But of the multitude many believed on him; and they said, When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done?" — John 7:31 (ASV)

And many of the multitude believed in him. We might have thought that Christ preached to deaf and completely obstinate people; yet the Evangelist says that some fruit followed. Therefore, even though some may complain, others may mock, and others may slander, and even though many differences of opinion may arise, the preaching of the Gospel will still not be without effect. So, we must sow the seed and wait patiently until, in due time, the fruit appears.

The word believe is used inaccurately here, because they depended more on miracles than they relied on doctrine, and were not convinced that Jesus was the Christ. However, because they were prepared to listen to him and showed themselves willing to receive instruction from him as their Teacher, such a preparation for faith is called faith. When the Holy Spirit confers such an honorable designation on a small spark of good disposition, it should encourage us not to doubt that faith, however small it may be, is acceptable to God.