Commenting on Peri archon (On First Principles), Preface 4-8, Thomas P. Scheck noted that:
For Origen
the freedom of creatures and the corresponding merit and demerit of works are
an inference from the doctrine of judgment and belong to the non-negotiable
deposit of faith. In order for God’s judgment to be just, it must be exercised
on responsible creatures. Origen is hardly the inventor of such views. In the
second century, Justin Martyr wrote in his First Apology 43: “We have
learned from the prophets and declare as the truth, that penalties and
punishments and good rewards are given according to the quality of each man’s
action.” (Thomas P. Scheck, St. Pamphilus: Apology for Origen; Rufinus: On
the Falsification of the Books of Origen [The Fathers of the Church 120;
Washington, D.C. The Catholic University of America Press, 2010], 51 n. 70)
