Why didn't the law convict Paul before his conversion?
Before his conversion, Paul functioned as a self-righteous Pharisee who considered himself above the law. His intense religious zeal and pharisaical mindset kept him from recognizing his lawbreaking, so the law did not convict him. It rolled off him like water off a duck; he was alive without the law until the commandment came.
Les teaches that before Paul's conversion, the law did not convict him because he was a self-righteous Pharisee who was so religious and pharisaical that he was practically above the law. He had no conviction that he was a lawbreaker, and the law was not convicting him as he went on his religious way. Les explains that Paul was alive without the law once, functioning as a Pharisee and religious zealot, and the law was not even touching him—it rolled off him like water off a duck. But when the commandment came, old Adam woke up. That is what revived means. As soon as the law came down on the Adamic part of Paul and woke him up, Paul's old Adam died. Les connects this to Acts chapter 9 and chapter 26 to give a picture of what Paul really was as a fanatical religious Jew.