What happened to Paul's old Adam when the law woke him up?
When the commandment came, Paul's old Adam was awakened, or revived, by the law. As soon as the law came down on the Adamic part of Paul and woke him up, his old Adam died. The law therefore brought death to Paul's old Adamic nature.
Les teaches that Paul, as a Pharisee and religious self-righteous man, was not paying attention to the law and had no conviction of being a lawbreaker; the law was not touching him and rolled off 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, his old Adam died. Les then turns to Acts 9 and 26 to give a picture of what Paul was as a fanatical religious Jew.
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
More Questions
What did Paul mean when he said 'I was alive without the law once' in Romans 7?
Paul's statement 'I was alive without the law once' means that as he functioned as a religious zealot and Pharisee, the law was not even touching him; it just rolled off him like water off a duck.
Why did the law that was ordained to life bring death to Paul?
Paul found the commandment to be death because, when he 'woke up' and realized the law was condemning him, it convicted him rather than covering over his sin.