Wesley was born to an Anglican priest, and his maternal grandfather was one as well. He attended college at Oxford University. As a student he joined a religious order that had been started by his brother, Charles. The order agreed to live a holy and sober life, receive communion at least once a week, to visit prisons and study the Bible and books of devotion. Eventually John Wesley would take over as leader of the group would eventually be called Methodists.

He became acquainted with Pietism in early 1736 on a boat ride to Georgia in the New World, where he was to be a priest. During a bad storm at sea Wesley saw that while he was concerned with his own salvation the Moravians on board did not seem concerned during the storm, in fact they were singing. They told them this was because they did not fear death. This caused Wesley to reexamine his own faith. When he arrived in Georgia he asked the Moravian Gottlieb Spangenberg for advice on missionary and pastor work. He appreciated the advice because his new parishioners, Native Americans, had different spiritual attitudes from those at Oxford. Wesley returned to England after he was sued for defamation after refusing communion to a woman he was courting after she married another man. He contacted the Moravians in England. His advisor, Peter Boehler encouraged him to continue preaching. Wesley felt more spiritually free and was able to more successfully help others achieve salvation. He also decided that Moravian spirituality was not conducive with his temperament; he decided against becoming a Moravian.

Wesley gains his understanding that he is a “child of God” from Scripture, Romans 8:16. He says that because the importance placed in Scripture there are certain responsibilities that “children of God” must complete. He thinks that every believer needs to fully understand the responsibilities of being a child of God, or the religion would become only a religion in name. If they practice being children of God but do not fully understand it they may not correctly practice. He also claims that it is part of the Methodist calling to teach others about God, as such it is important that they have a complete understanding of Him. Pietist believers thought that an over-emphasis on dogma and philosophy took away from truly worshiping God. Wesley thought that children of God should be educated enough to help others find salvation.

Methodists believe that Scripture is the one true Word of God. According to Wesley Methodists are distinguished from Roman Catholics because they believe that nothing but the written Word of God should dictate Christian faith and practices. Wesley says that Methodists should prefer to express the Word of God as simply as they possibly can, meaning that Latin would not necessarily be used for sacred texts and ceremonies. He goes on to say that Methodists do not abstain. Methodists are those that truly love God, the love is so deep it is clear to the outside world. People may have been attracted to being a Methodist because the scriptures and ceremonies were practiced in the local language, meaning they would more easily understand the religion. They also were not asked to abstain from enjoyable things, as long as they thanked God for the things they had in life.

In “Christian Perfection” Wesley argues that too often people are discouraged from practicing religion because they fear they can never reach perfection. The former Catholic belief was that all humans were sinners and that because of this reaching perfection was a difficult process. Wesley simplified the way that Christian Perfection is achieved.  In his views Christian Perfection is achieved by all true believers, perfection is gained through Christ. Christ’s suffering and sacrifices purified Christian’s souls. Christians are also purified when they confess their sins. Christian perfection can be attained by all. It is more attractive to feel that you can be purified in the eyes of God. It is a more accessible and easily attained salvation.