no matter how you cut it

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Amplified)

Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord. (CEV)

When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death. But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ERV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Sin pays its servants: the wage is death. But God gives to those who serve him: his free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (J B Phillips)

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (The Message)

The payment for sin is death. But God gives us the free gift of life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NCV)

For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NET)

When you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life. That’s because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done. (NIRV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(NIV)

You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! But God’s free gift is life that lasts forever. It is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. (NLV)

The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. (The Voice)

The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us. (WE)

Biblegateway.com has 56 different translations & paraphrases.

I quoted some of them that didn't all say it the same way.

But the basic idea is the same.

Sin (& sinning) is a dead end - & very bad dead end.

But by accepting & believing that Jesus makes way to connect with God, our lives open up & tap into what is eternal

I know that right now “sin is not in” - iow, we may call it some other thing to soften it's identity & make facing it more socially acceptable.

But the bottom line is the bottom line...

sin = death

connecting with / surrendering to God = life

Think about it...