Do you seriously think that Paul was referring to his life as a Christian-murdering pharisee when he wrote this? The commandment came to life once he received the holy spirit. He died to the law as a Christian, not as a pharisee.
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. Romans 7:7-0