One argument used previously here on the BB for a spiritual coming of Christ in AD 70 was that in Col. 3:5 it says, "5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." So the thought was, "Look, Paul was in their church in his spirit, so this is a real thing."
First of all, the use of "in the spirit" here is an idiom, which is an expression in which the actual meaning of the expression is not the same as the literal meaning. An idiom is commonly accepted among linguists just as I described it, and is not therefore a window into interpreting the Bible literally.
At any rate, this idiom does not mean that Paul wandered over to Colossae in his spirit while his body lingered back home. That would be what the New Agers call an "out of body experience," and is certainly not a Christian concept. Remember again James 2:26, "the body without the spirit is dead." The "out of body" experience is pagan, not Christian. Christ did not come "spiritually" or physically in AD 70.
First of all, the use of "in the spirit" here is an idiom, which is an expression in which the actual meaning of the expression is not the same as the literal meaning. An idiom is commonly accepted among linguists just as I described it, and is not therefore a window into interpreting the Bible literally.
At any rate, this idiom does not mean that Paul wandered over to Colossae in his spirit while his body lingered back home. That would be what the New Agers call an "out of body experience," and is certainly not a Christian concept. Remember again James 2:26, "the body without the spirit is dead." The "out of body" experience is pagan, not Christian. Christ did not come "spiritually" or physically in AD 70.