On some occasions at least, church fathers such as Basil and the Gregories really do speak of the devil as an angel who envies those drawing near to God. We have no evidence that these theologians are always speaking metaphorically when they teach on the devil’s role in salvation history or when they command him to flee. To incontrovertibly reduce the devil to a metaphor undermines the extent to which our theologians engage in active warfare with the enemy of salvation.

For early Christians, the devil was real and active.