From your answers, you accept the law came to Paul as a Pharisee. But you say he did not know sin until he became a Christian. This is what Paul said happened when-as you accept the law came to him as a Pharisee:
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,(sprang to life in the NIV) and I died.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
And you accept, the law came to Paul the Pharisee
But what I find most interesting is your view, that when Paul became a Christian and the Holy Spirit entered his life, and he then followed grace not law, you believe sin THEN through the law aroused all manner of concupiscence in Paul. In other words, once Paul became a Christian, died to a law of righteousness and the Holy Spirit entered his life he became full of corruption in the flesh, sin grew/flourished/ magnified in his life.
Yes., the closer you get to Jesus, the clearer you see yourself. The only thing you feel at first is like Paul did.. WOE IS ME... WHO WILL DELIVER ME?? HOW CAN I STAND MYSELF??? HOW CAN GOD LOVE ME?? .. And as you read the Bible and the HolySpirit convicts you of your righteousness in Christ., you rest in the truths and the promises. But mind you., unless you read the Bible and seek the truth you can have all these promises and never take advantage of them. Like so many believers., like me!! I didn't know so many truths until after being born again some 25 yrs. I never was a student of the Bible.
I didn't hear about true grace for the Christian life till just recently. The more we read the Bible and repent of our own ideas of who God is and what God does., the more we are open to the Holy Spirit teaching us and showing us the truth. So many believers will not go that far because it means moving away (in our hearts) from old beliefs that were dear to us and got us through and from dear family members who are believers. Or a church what we love. I stopped and didn't go further.
We are ALWAYS learning. Paul was learning in Romans and he shared the process with us so we could learn and not be condemned as we learned. Who will deliver us from the body of this death? JESUS.
How good is it to know even Paul had this problem of seeing how sinful his ideas of righteousness were in comparison to Jesus perfection. We need the grace of God to be able to stand in the face of what our old ideas of God are and how to change and repent to what the truth of God is., and we learn that from the Holy Spirit who teaches us as we read the Bible., hear the preaching of the Bible., read and soak our minds with His Word daily.
Each day we learn something new to add to what we were taught before. What seems impossible we find in Christ all things are possible and we end up magnifying Jesus and not ourselves. Grace teaches us how.
You therefore believe, Paul believed he was slain/condemned by sin as a Christian when he ceased to live under a law of righteousness
To me that is crazy, to you it makes perfect sense.
Let us leave it there, there is no possible hope of agreement