provision in Christ, Peter encouraged his readers to build upon their foundation of faith—their initial acceptance of God’s love—with the Christian virtues of goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These graces, sometimes called the “ladder of faith,” are the fruit of sharing in the divine nature. Each successive quality seems to spring from the previous one. 1:8–9 Useful and fruitful Christians have an abundance of the qualities mentioned in vv. 5–7.