Do we truly have free will, if God already knows everything?

The Orthodox nuance

The confusion comes from how we understand time. We live in time, one thing after another, yesterday, today, tomorrow. God is not locked in time, He sees everything at once, like someone on a mountain who sees the entire river at once, from the source to the mouth. The fact that He sees beforehand what you will do does not push you, just as, if you look from above at someone walking on the road, your gaze does not force him to walk.

This is where Orthodoxy clearly parts from an idea that circulated in the West, especially among some Protestants, predestination, the idea that God decided beforehand who is saved and who is lost, without any connection to us. For Orthodox Christians, this is unacceptable, because it would make God unjust and man a doll. God desires all men to be saved, writes Saint Paul (1 Timothy 2, 4). He wants the salvation of all, but He imposes it on no one.

So everything rests on synergy. God gives you grace, always, first. But He leaves you free to receive it or refuse it. Hell, if you will, is not God rejecting you, it is man saying no to the very end. True love cannot be forced, which is why God, who is love, took the risk of making us free.