BMA Seminary Free Class: The Life of Peter

By DR. DAVID HELLWIG, PH.D.
BMA Theological Seminary Vice President and Dean

For more than ten years BMA Seminary in Jacksonville, Texas has offered a free course during each regular semester. These courses have touched on all major areas of academic discipline: biblical studies, theological-historical, church ministries and religious education. The topic for the fall 2026 semester free course will focus on a study of the life of Peter.
 
Most seminaries and Bible colleges offer courses on the life of Christ and life of Paul, and for good reason. First, Christ is the main character of scripture and the One who brought redemption to mankind. The Old Testament prophesied about Christ’s coming redemptive works, the four Gospels in the New Testament record the historicity of their prophetic fulfillments, and the New Testament epistles explain the significance of Christ’s redemptive work. Second, the apostle Paul wrote half of the New Testament books and was quite possibly the greatest Christian missionary. Plus, our theology and understanding of doctrine primarily come from Paul’s biblical writings.
 
The apostle Peter also holds a significant place in scripture and early Christian history. However, not many seminaries and Bible colleges offer a specific course on the life of Peter. He was a faithful follower of Jesus’ earthly ministry, one of the main leaders of the early church and a writer of two New Testament epistles. This FREE Fall 2026 course on the life of Peter will focus on four primary areas: (1) background information on Peter, (2) Peter as a follower of the Lord as highlighted in the four Gospels, (3) Peter as a leader in the early church as noted in Acts 1–12, and (4) an overview of Peter’s two epistles.
 
This course would benefit any Christian desiring to receive a detailed look at the life of Peter from the biblical record and would be a great refresher for any pastor, missionary or Sunday school teacher. This would also be a great study for church groups such as Galileans, GMAs, WMAs and Brotherhoods.
 
Dr. David Hellwig created this course for the seminary curriculum in 2013. It has been a repeated course since then. People from ten different states and nine different countries have already registered for this course. This class will run for eight weeks beginning Sept. 7, 2026, and going through Oct. 30, 2026. The last day to register for this course is Aug. 24, 2026. You can go to bmats.edu/free/ to fill out a short registration form. The main textbook, in addition to the Bible, will be “The Life and Witness of Peter” by Larry R. Helyer (Downers Grove, IL, IVP Academic, 2012), ISBN: 978-08308-3982-7.
 
For further information about the course or BMA Seminary, feel free to contact the seminary by email, [email protected], or by phone 903-586-2501.

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