justification by faith

Doctrine derived from Romans 5:1 and especially dear to Protestant Christianity, that the supreme virtue is faith. According to Luther, ‘if this article concerning Christ—the doctrine that we are justified and saved through Him alone and consider all apart from Him damned—is not professed, all resistance and restraint are at an end. Then there is, in fact, neither measure nor limit to any heresy and error.’ See also antinomianism.