In the sixteenth century play Doctor Faustus -- which just closed this weekend -- audiences saw a man sell his soul for the kind of power that, oddly enough, we today consider commonplace. Faustus wanted to enjoy feasts of rich foods at a whim, control nature's elements, and know hidden facts about foreign subjects. And in the days before unlimited dining hall meal plans, air conditioning, and Google, it makes sense that a man would turn to supernatural forces to meet his desire for power.
In the play, the devil gladly receives Faustus' soul and provides the requested spells and magic without second thought or further bargaining. The lesser devil Mephistopheles seems almost bored with Faustus' obsession over his newfound power, but most concerned that Faustus not take back his soul. In the devil's economy, the value of even god-like power is nearly nil compared to the market price of souls. But why? What would the devil want with someone's soul, anyway?
The devil, as he has always been understood by Christians (and Jews and Muslims), is not a god. God, as the giver of existence to all things and the only truly independent being, cannot have a rival independent of him. If God is the creator, then everything else -- including the devil -- must be a creature. Some creatures are greater than others, though. Just as men and women are more complex and more capable creatures than rocks or squirrels or apes, so might there be creatures in creation greater than humans. These creatures are said to have no bodies but only minds, beings of pure intelligence and will that take up no material space. They are called "spirits" or "angels". The devil and all lesser devils are, in this sense, angels.
Faustus believes that the immaterial existence of such creatures makes them controllable by human will. When Mephistopheles appears to him, he assumes his own "conjuring speeches" forced the devil there. Mephistopheles responds, "That was the cause, but yet only the immediate, not the ultimate cause. For when we hear one torture the name of God, abjure his scriptures, and his servant Christ, we fly in hope to get his glorious soul." But why are they so ravenously attracted? What is their motive?
Faustus, as the deal for his soul approaches, himself asks, "Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good will my soul do thy lord [the devil]?" The lesser devil responds simply: "Enlarge his kingdom." The story behind the devil, Lucifer, is that he is an angel who has declared himself an enemy to God. His "kingdom" is the mass of lesser angels he took with him in rebellion against the kingdom led by God.
It would be a mistake, I think, to look at these two warring kingdoms of God and of the devil as if they were like two political parties, like the Democrats and the Republicans (though an analogy is too often drawn by the candidates of each!). Political parties seek to "enlarge their kingdoms," but only for the purpose of getting votes, and thus remaining in office. But the devil has no reason to be popular, nor would an almighty God need to do well in the polls. If God created everything by his own power, then no created thing can add anything to his power, nor give him any service he could not already do himself. So why is the common picture that both sides are competing for our membership?
God could easily enlarge his kingdom by force. If he created creatures, he can make them do whatever he wishes, as we might use tools for whatever we will. But if we are being asked to join God, then God must not be using force. Puppets are not asked for consent. Consent, by definition, cannot be forced. Someone can force you to do what they say, but they can never force you to submit to it. Someone submits when they make the free choice to willingly go along. You cannot, we all know, make somebody love you. So if God is giving people the choice to follow him, he must want beings united to him freely, in love. But if God is really all-good and seeks our good as well, why would anyone not choose him? Why did Lucifer rebel?
I think the best explanation is the one seen in John Milton's Paradise Lost. There, Lucifer does not rebel because of any injustice on God's part. He rebels because he simply cannot stand that there is a God. He hates the fact that any being might actually be more important than himself. He, like Faustus, seeks to make himself the center of all the world. But in seeking to usurp the very God that gave him his existence, Lucifer saws off the branch he was sitting on and casts himself out of God's presence. It is very hard to be around someone you know is better than yourself when you wish you were the best of all. "It is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven."
It is also very hard to love someone if all you can think about is yourself. Since Lucifer is so stuck on his own self-importance, his motive for enlarging his kingdom cannot be like God's motive. It is the difference between wanting to love someone and wanting to own someone. The latter desire often masquerades as the former, but we can see the desire to dominate most clearly when we argue. Often we do not just want to reach the right conclusion; we want our opponent to reach our conclusion. We want others to talk like us, act like us, and think like us -- almost become extensions of us.
Whereas God desires a family of distinct individuals, Lucifer seeks a corporation of homogenized slaves. C.S. Lewis sums up the difference through the words of a fictional devil: "We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons." Mephistopheles tells Faustus that hell is wherever a devil may be, for hell is the misery of rejecting the love of God and being isolated from him. Lucifer would rather that all beings were miserable if he must be, and desires to force them to be his company. Faustus thinks his expert knowledge and skill wins the devil's attention, but Lucifer is drawn rather by the self-consumed pride Faustus loudly proclaims. As the scent of blood in the ocean draws the shark, the devils come to Faustus seeking prey.
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