John Wesley

John Wesley (1703–1791) was an Anglican clergyman and the founder of Methodism, whose itinerant preaching across Britain and America helped spark one of the most significant religious revivals of the eighteenth century. His Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1754) and Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765) provide concise, practically oriented commentary on every book of the Bible, drawing on Johann Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti and other scholarly sources while aiming at the plain understanding of the common reader. Wesley believed that Scripture's primary purpose was practical holiness, and his notes reflect that pastoral concern throughout. The Notes hold a foundational place in Wesleyan theology, having been adopted alongside the Standard Sermons as a doctrinal standard for Methodist bodies worldwide. They entered the public domain and remain widely read as a devotional and exegetical resource.