2:23 Now while Jesus51 was in Jerusalem52 at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing.53
snBecause they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.