He began writing on 4 January 1754 and continued without preaching until March, by which point he had produced a rough draft of the translation.
[3] Wesley worked from Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, particularly those of Johann Albrecht Bengel, keeping his translation closely in line with the King James Version (KJV).
He also changed many occurrences of the word "shall" to "will", thereby downplaying an emphasis on predestination within the text and bringing it more in line with Methodist theology.
[4] In his preface, Wesley claimed that his notes were aimed at the "unlearned reader", and were meant to be anti-sectarian in nature.
[6] Wesley focused on providing historical context in his commentary, giving explanations of the Jewish court system and the positions of groups such as the Sadducees and the Pharisees.