Gerhard and Walther

So, in this Holy Supper we have the true tree of life again set before us, that sweet tree, whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit is for salvation; aye, its sweetness is such as to destroy the bitterness of all afflictions, and even of death itself.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations XIX

Certainly each person must pursue holiness, without which, Scripture says, no one will see the Lord. He begins by despairing of all his will and ability and by believing in the crucified One. The order of salvation is not that a person is first holy, and then saved; rather, he is first saved and then made holy.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 841, 42.