the Lord is composed either of indivisible atoms or of matter and form.
Speculative theologians have differed over observable bodies: are they composed of atoms, of parts, or of neither? There are three views.
Whoever maintains that a created thing is composed of neither has even greater reason to affirm that the Creator is not composite. As for one who maintains that a created thing is composite, he faces two alternatives: either he denies composition of the Lord, glorified is He—in which case he needs proof, while their proofs for this are weak—or he affirms that the Lord is composed of these things, which is an absurd position. Both positions—negation and affirmation—are weak because the underlying premise they share is weak.
This issue is one of the matters that have left many rational thinkers bewildered regarding the attributes of created beings and the Creator. An example is a fruit, such as an apple or a citron (1). It has color, taste, and scent, which are attributes subsisting in it; it also has motion.
Some speculative theologians say that its attributes are not entities additional to its essence, and they take the word “apple” to encompass all of this. Others say that its attributes are indeed additional to its essence.
Upon closer examination, this is a verbal dispute. If by its essence one means the abstract essence conceived by the mind, then there is no doubt that its attributes are additional to that essence. But if one means the essence existing in external reality, then it is characterized by attributes: it does not exist as an essence in external reality unless it is characterized by the attributes inseparable from it.