The Olive Tree - are we graft in? This question seems to have an obvious answer. "Of course we are graft into the olive tree because that is what Romans 11:17 says!" Lets read it together:

17  (AV) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
17  (TR) ει δε τινες των κλαδων εξεκλασθησαν συ δε αγριελαιος ων ενεκεντρισθης εν αυτοις και συγκοινωνος της ριζης και της πιοτητος της ελαιας εγενου

Before answering this we will back up a little and discover important and interesting contextual information about the book we are reading from. The epistle of Paul to the Romans is a book of huge consequence because it lays down some very clear truths concerning justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is undeniable and is affirmed by the present author. But what is also true and must also be equally affirmed is that the book is written in an age when Jew was first Rom. 1:16

When I began my christian life at the age of 21 in a small Baptist chuch in rural New Zealand I knew little of the bible and even less of its doctrine. I knew that I was saved by grace and that was a huge step from darkness to light, while not a library of knowledge it at least found me secure in the beloved.

The perfecting of the saints

The book of Ephesians is the high water mark of PAul's prison ministry. It relates to us both  the circumstances and content  of the revelation of "the mystery" which was hid in God. All saints immediately prior to this revelation believed and held to the hope which was proclaimed to them in the Acts and therefore would need to be adjusted to the new and unprophesied hope that was now their's by grace.

Eph. 6.15  (AV) And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph. 6.15  (TR) και υποδησαμενοι τους ποδας εν ετοιμασια του ευαγγελιου της ειρηνης