Good question, and one that people have been grappling with since the first century! Jesus was always God, the second person of the trinity. God is eternal. When he was conceived in Mary, he became man as well. Before that he was not man. After that he was; now that part of his nature will last forever, taken up into God.

but then if he's taken up into God there's no longer a third person that's separate?

but then there's not even a second. you can't get to three without two? sry i'm kinda having a real inner debate with this and i need it resolved.

I fyou believe so strongly that Christ is God in human form, then you should already know who Christ was before HE came to earth as a human. HE tells us many times who HE was, God's Son. God was HIS FATHER, same as GOD is OUR FATHER>>>> In Genesis, when God said ,"let US make man ", tells US God was not alone, HE has always had spirit creatures,{angels}, 1000's, STILL DOES.The Bible talks of them, Gabriel, Michael, do you think HE just made them whenever he need a messenger? Christ was a very special angel to God. I am Positive God missed his PRESENCE for 33 years when HE chose to come here and walk as a HUMAN and sacrifice HIS life to give us the HOPE of ETERNAL LIFE. He died on that cross , the same way we would.!!!!

that still doesn't answer my question. and it's a plural [[US]] because it was translated from Hebrew. All eastern languages have a majestic plural form. it refers to one person but it speaks as Plural. so that doesn't prove anything. and christ was not an angel, because he either was or wasn't God, and if he was God then God was never an angel because God wasn't created and angels were. anyways how can God miss himself? yea that didn't really answer my question it just seemed preachy

sorry to jump into this so late in the game but the question seems to be two fold. One: what was christ before He came down to earth in human form? Two: whatever the answer to one is, how does that relate to the trinity. Before going into a lot of detail let me know if this is, in essence, the basis of your question?

My beloved friend, Jesus is God, God descended on Earth as a man. Truly, Christ is God in human form. Christ is a title. It means that the human who hits the level of Divinity becomes Christ who is One with God the Absolute. We all can and should become a Christ(ian) too, no matter our religion, for God is One. The difference between us and Jesus is that He is the Supreme Being, He descends on Earth to teach us the way 'back home' to God. And we are His fragments going to hit the Goal which is to become One with Him (as God Absolute) as well. There's no contradiction with the Trinity cos see the thought: Essentially, there's God the Absolute, He is all pervasive, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. But, physically and functionally, as person, the Absolute manifest as Three Persons: The Creator (The Father), the Preserver (or the Son) - the already perfect creature - and the Transformer, the Renovator (who's the Holy Spirit). Physically and functionally we (every being, not only humans) are individual souls, fragments of That Spirit, souls of the Supreme Soul, or 'spirits' of the True Spirit. We born to experience the Truth and hit God, it's a cycle. By becomin pure we go from the 'ignorant fragment' to the One with God, in His Consciousness. But, once we hit that Goal, we still keep on livin as individuals, the difference is that then we lose our individual consciousness, our ego, and we become One with the Absolute (thinkin, speakin and livin Divinely) who functionally is manifest in 3 Persons, but truly is the One, the Absolute, unmanifested. Jesus was the 2nd Person, God in human form, The Son of Man (see the big "M", God is the original and perfect Man, we're 'men' goin to be 'Men', and as like as seeds, the original is only one and the same ever). This is the core of His Teaching, that Truth He couldn't teach us before: truly we are One and that's the main reason why we should help ever and hurt never cos every one, every being (not only humans) is a son of God, every living individual is a soul goin to be a Son of Man too, see Matthew 25:31-46. That's the reason why Jesus told us to return good for evil, cos truly every being is Himself (the Absolute or 'fragments of the Absolute goin to be One with Him as well'). Cos when someone performs a bad deed, it's only the body, the mind, the intellect and the soul acting. That Spirit that truly we are never sins. Then when we don't love unconditionally we are forgetin to love and respect God in His many forms. Once we truly realize God we won't sin anymore if we keep oursleves on that Consciousness. Physically and functionally we are evolving souls, but essentially we are That One. See how truly there's no enemy nor a 'threat' to God cos He is so Perfect that it's impossible to exist a possibility of 'disputing with God' cos truly there's only One, how could rise a second 'Kingdom' if truly there's only One without a second? :) God is wonderful eh?! ;) Please, let me know if my explanation is enough, aye?! :) May the Peace be with you, my dear! God bless! With Luv, in the Light of Him, Samuel

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God..... And the Word took on flesh and dwelt amongst us John 1:1 & 14

Funny, kids believe the same thing as Santa Claus but, then, they grow up and come to the realization that it's all a fantasy

He was God, before during and after His stay on this planet. I really don't see how that would contradict the trinity, just because Christ was in a specific location for a short time. Am I misunderstanding your question? The Trinity has always been and will always be. During the relatively miniscule period of time that Jesus spent on Earth, He was STILL God, though also fully human, and was therefore still part of the Trinity. That said, the Trinity itself is something of a mystery, and difficult both to understand and to explain. I kind of like that Christianity recognizes that some things are so deeply mysterious that we probably cannot explain them, personally. I hope this has been slightly helpful. Did I address you question clearly?