“The Gospel blocks the way of all self-devised efforts to gain holiness. It deprives man of his self-confidence and of the idea that he has a rightful claim on God. Instead it proclaims through Word and Sacrament a free promise of grace which has been made available by an act of God, and which gives fully and completely (rotunde et universaliter) what could never be attained by self-devised methods.” (page 76)

Koeberle, The Quest for Holiness