Did Dr. James R. White “concede” that Adam had Libertarian Free Will? There was a moment in Dr. White’s debate with AK Richardson, where AK asked whether Adam had free will. Here is my transcript of the exchange:
AK: Do you believe that if God purposes to design man with libertarian free will – as we call it – and then given the responsibility to believe can he do that if he wants.
JRW: Yeah It didn’t last long That was called Adam
AK: Okay So so then if if so he did create Adam with libertarian free will So then you would concede–
JRW: But even then that libertarian free will existed under the decree of God because it was not God’s purpose that Christ was not going to come The incarnation wasn’t going to be ne necessary stuff like that. But Adam is completely different than we are Once the fall takes place we’re in Romans 5.
AK: But you did affirm that he had libertarian free will?
JRW: Yes. As a creature. In other words he did not have a fallen nature.
When Dr. White said “even then that libertarian free will existed under the decree of God,” (link to clip) and again when Dr. White said, “in other words he did not have a fallen nature,” (link to clip) it should have been apparent to the unbiased listener that Dr. White is speaking only of Adam having Freedom of Will in the sense of not being bound by a sin nature, and not of Adam having Freedom from God’s Will.
So, no. Dr. White was not saying that Adam had Libertarian Free Will in the sense that contemporary philosophers use that term (link), for example as in contrast with Compatible Free Will. I would have preferred Dr. White to have clarified by saying “free will, not Libertarian Free Will.” However, I’m not the boss of him.
For Dr. White, he felt it was sufficient to clarify that Adam had free will “as a creature” and more specifically as an “unfallen creature”. As he said a few seconds later:
AK: Let me ask you this way: You still you would believe then — and you would agree — that being libertarianly free does not in any way oppose God being sovereign?
JRW: Libertarianly free as a creature. Adam’s choices were limited. Adam could not libertarianly freely choose to fly. So he was a creature. He had that freedom within that realm as an unfallen creature.
I realize that for a lot of folks, that segment of the debate was a “gotcha” moment, because of the more standard meaning of “Libertarian Free Will” in contemporary philosophical circles. That said, it’s worth observing that, to put it bluntly, that’s not what Dr. White meant.
If AK had asked Dr. White the question: was the Fall foreordained by God? The answer would have been “yes,” because Dr. White said that Adam’s will “existed under the decree of God.”
Hopefully this provides clarification for those who badly need clarification on this issue.