¹⁹ Jared lived eight hundred years after he begot Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ The whole lifetime of Jared was nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.

²¹ When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he begot Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah for three hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. ²³ The whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God,^[a] and he was no longer here, for God took him.^(A)

²⁵ When Methuselah was one hundred and eighty-seven years old, he begot Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he begot Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ The whole lifetime of Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.

²⁸ When Lamech was one hundred and eighty-two years old, he begot a son ^29 (B)and named him Noah, saying, “This one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands, out of the very ground that the Lord has put under a curse.”^{[b] 30} Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he begot Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. ³¹ The whole lifetime of Lamech was seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.

IV. Justification and the Christian Life

Chapter 6

Freedom from Sin; Life in God. ^1 [a]What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!^{(A) 2} How can we who died to sin yet live in it?^{(B) 3} Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?^{(C) 4} We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.^(D)

⁵ For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.^{(E) 6} We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.^{(F) 7} For a dead person has been absolved from sin. ⁸ If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.^{(G) 9} We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.^{(H) 10} As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.^{(I) 11} Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.^(J)

^12 [b]Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.^{(K) 13} And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.^{(L) 14} For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.^(M)

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!^{(N) 16} Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,^(O) you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?^{(P) 17} But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.^{[c] 18} Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. ^20 (Q)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.^{[d] 21} But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.^{(R) 22} But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,^[e] and its end is eternal life.^{(S) 23} For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.^(T)

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.^{(A) 16 (B)}By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ So by their fruits you will know them.^(C)

The True Disciple. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,^[a] but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^{(D) 22} Many will say to me on that day,^(E) ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’^{(F) 23} Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.^[b] Depart from me, you evildoers.’^(G)

The Two Foundations. ^24 [c]“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^{(H) 25} The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.^(I) But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. ²⁶ And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”