to the battle between vice and virtue for the human soul. Using the psychic sense, Origen develops at least three supporting components of this theological theme: one emphasizing God’s limitless mercy and forgiveness, another pointing to God, and not the believer, as the one who ultimately facilitates victory for the soul, and a third in which Origen stresses that Scripture is the necessary guide for the spiritual battle. When Origen develops the notion of God’s mercy, he explains that it will come