But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

-Matthew 5:28, NIV

Emotional affairs are leading in a certain direction. Like foreplay, the point is to culminate in full-blown sexual contact. That is where emotional affairs are headed, too.

That is just how humans are wired. We’re sexual beings who tend toward intimacy on all levels. This is part of the reason I am suspicious of Cheaters only confessing to an emotional affair.

We would not be okay with our spouse engaging in sexual, physical foreplay with another person; so, many of us are understandably not okay with them engaging in emotional foreplay with another partner.

Given enough time and opportunity, the emotional foreplay with turn into full-blown adultery. So, it is reasonable to be skeptical of confessions of “only” an emotional affair.