The rejected Christ and the evidence of works
for the world denied Christ's.
John supplies a particularly close biblical background, though this is not an identifiable quotation. In the King James Version, John 10:20 reports the accusation that Jesus is 'mad'; 10:33 reports the charge that a man is making himself God. John 1:10–12 describes the world's failure to recognize him while also acknowledging those who received him. Chesterton compresses this divided reception into 'the world.' John 1:10–12; 10:19–38, KJV.
The example works as a limited Christian argument: if Christ was rejected, rejection alone cannot disprove a claim to divinity. It does not follow that every rejected claimant has comparable grounds. The same Gospel makes that distinction available: John 10:25 and 37–38 appeals to Jesus' works as testimony, rather than treating rejection as its own credential. Reading the example alongside that context preserves Chesterton's point about a failed refutation while preventing its conversion into an argument that opposition proves divine identity. The KJV is the comparison witness; the wording here does not identify Chesterton's particular Bible translation.
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