The Landlord of Sin

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”—Romans 8:2

Because of the Fall (the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden), we have inherited a sinful or fallen nature from our first parents. Our nature is corrupted and our desires are for sin. This “sinful nature” manifests itself in different ways in different people. It takes our natural desires and corrupts them. For example, food is good, but too much food becomes gluttony. Sex in the context of marriage is good between a husband and wife, but adultery (sex with someone other than your spouse) is wrong. As James wrote,  

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death”—James 1:14-15. 

And the sinful nature has no bounds when it comes to inventing new ways to sin, but we can be sure they fall under these categories:  

“sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”—Galatians 5:19-21. 

Because of our propensity to sin, we are called “slaves” who are unable to free ourselves from the power of sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:16). But because of Jesus, we have been set free (John 8:32) and we don’t have to listen to sin when it calls anymore.

Imagine living in an apartment where your landlord shows up on the first day of the month to collect rent. You are expected to pay the rent because the landlord owns the building, but if someone else were to purchase the building, you then pay rent to him and not your old landlord. The same is true for the Christian life. Sin is the landlord of an unbeliever, whether they realize it or not. Each time the Sin comes knocking, the unbeliever is powerless to resist him and must pay what he requires. Attempt not to pay and Sin will threaten you with death. And he can make that threat come to pass (Romans 6:23). But when a man or woman comes to know Christ as Lord and Savior, the landlord changes. Christ becomes the landlord and Sin no longer has dominion. But that doesn’t mean that Sin goes away or that he won’t continue to try and take rent from you. He will continue to knock and pound at your door, demanding that you open to him and pay what you owe. He will lie, steal, cajole and do anything in his power to get you to open the door. But when he comes knocking, you do not have to open the door anymore, because Christ paid the price that Sin required on the cross and defeated death by His resurrection from the dead. And now, once a person has repented and placed his or her trust in Christ and what he has done on the cross, Christ freely gives His Spirit. Therefore, we have been set free, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death”—Romans 8:2.

We are free! We don't have to answer the door for Sin when he calls! My brother or sister, when Sin comes knocking at the door, don’t answer it! And if you answer it by mistake, don’t let him in! Slam the door in his face and live in the freedom that Christ gives (Galatians 5:1)! Amen.