Christianity suggests that the universe is a theatre of change and imperfection, and God is perfect and unchanging. Apologists, who reconcile Christianity with Greek Philosophy advocate that universe is somewhat different from pure matter. Thus, God according to them also is eternal and unchanging; he is the primordial cause of everything in the universe. Ideas of Plato and forms of Aristotle became God for them.

St. Augustine, one of the greatest thinkers among the early Christian Philosophers worked most on the theory of apologists. According to him, God created matter out of nothing and then created everything in the universe. Indeed, God created time and space also. This principle is in congruence with the Greek Philosophy, that the universe is the result of union of matter and form.

Christian thinkers furthered the Greek philosophy and they attempted to account for the existence of matter. The Christians put the ideas or forms in God’s mind and went on to say that God created matter out of nothing. After he had created matter, he had something upon which to impress ideas for forms.

These Christian philosophers taught that the ideas or forms being in the mind of the God, were divine. Therefore, in so far as things are ideas or forms impressed on matter, they seek God and try to return to him. But matter holds them back. Matter which God has created is the principle, which makes it necessary for things to struggle in their attempt to become divine.