While much of the past understanding of the church has been based upon speculation by scholars with different biases, archaeology in Israel has made dramatic contributions to a more accurate picture of the people and culture of the first century church.

Adding to the understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus has been the discovery of Bethsaida, the home of five of the twelve apostles of the earliest church, which is now being excavated after being lost for nearly 2,000 years. This important discovery and the work of excavation was reported by Karin Laub of the Associated Press in a recent issue of Christians and Israel, a publication of the Jerusalem-based Association of Christians and Jews in Israel.

American theologian Elizabeth McNamer has noted that "from a Christian point of view, this is the most important town after Jerusalem." She concluded that Bethsaida was "the launching pad of Christianity."

An important part of the excavation of Bethsaida is the fact that archaeologists believe that this city was predominantly Jewish in culture despite the fact that many Gentiles lived in nearby towns. This serves to confirm the fact that the early Jesus movement and its founder were Jewish, which would help to underscore the fact that their faith was Jewish.

Bethsaida is one of three towns in the "evangelical triangle," that also included Capernaum and Chorazim, the area where Jesus performed most of his miracles. Bethsaida is the only one of these towns that has remained virtually unchanged since the days of Jesus.

Bargil Pixner, a Benedictine monk from Meran, Italy, who teaches archaeology at the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, observed that archaeologists found "a village that is practically the same as the time of Jesus. We see the houses as they stood, the roads where he passed."

It was Pixner who discovered Bethsaida in 1967. A team of archaeologists headed by Israeli archaeologist Rami Arav began the excavation in 1987, digging in a site covering 22 acres. According to Arav, the people of Bethsaida were "basically Jewish," with very little Gentile influence. This is in keeping with the tendency of devout Jews in that day to remain separate from Gentiles. The archaeological evidence for minimal Gentile influence on Bethsaida serves to confirm that Jesus and his apostles were faithful to their Judaic heritage and observant of the Torah. They were not, as some theologians would suppose, in rebellion against Judaism and influenced by Gentile ways and culture. Christianity did not, then, spring from mystery religions as some have supposed. Arav noted that Jewish coins and Herodian oil lamps that the team found were commonly used in Jewish communities and that the architecture was Middle Eastern, not Greek.

The Gospels refer to Bethsaida seven times: Matthew 11:21; Luke 9:10, 11; 10:13; Mark 6:45; 8:22; John 1:43, 44; 12:20,21. It is the third most often mentioned city in the Gospels, behind Jerusalem and Capernaum. It obviously occupied an important place in the life of Jesus and his disciples.

Because of the discovery of Bethsaida, archaeologists have further confirmed that the places mentioned in the Bible actually existed. They have also confirmed that Jesus was a real human being–a Jew who lived like a Jew. This evidence further underscores the truth about the Jewishness of Jesus and the earliest church. It should call the church to a reawakening of its heritage in and with the Jewish people.