The implications of this passage are far reaching. Since the intended audience for the warning of the letter was not specifically involved in a developed form of false-teaching but rather the broad influence of proto-gnostic tendencies the intent of this passage is simply to reaffirm some of the early developing understandings of Christ. Primarily that of Christ’s preeminence over what has been created, his association with the preexistent Wisdom of God that participated in act of creation and his present role in the new creation of a post salvation world. While the rest of the Colossian letter proceeds to develop the implications of early christology, our exegesis of this passage not need go beyond the simply affirmation that Christ is to be identified with God in past, present and future terms. While the passage does not necessarily present fully formed Christian dogma as surrounds the trinity today, it nonetheless calls the contemporary reader to acknowledge that the concept of the divinity of Christ was developing very early in the Christian story. Despite many specious popular, cultural claims regarding the late developing of such understandings^[109], or the non-centrality of such claims to the Christian story^[110], the Colossian hymn flatly rejects such conclusions. Further, it pushes back against the notion that Christianity, as a religion, was solely the creation of the apostle Paul^[111]. Instead placing the development of Christian thought within the early Christian community, though clearly under the influence of Paul’s teaching.

The Colossian hymn truly represents one of the high points in Christian theology. The placement of the letter, within the lifetime of Paul, yet outside the direct writing of Paul, combined with the identification of the specific section as a pre-existing hymnic pushes us toward some important conclusions about the nature of the early church. While we must acknowledge Paul as the primary figure in the development of the Christian cult passages such as the Colossian hymn present us with a beautiful image of the interacting compliment of theological streams within the early church.