Religious deceivers have always been common, even back in Bible days.  That’s what prompted the Apostle Paul to warn Titus,

“…there are many…vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped…” (Titus 1:10,11).

Since these “vain talkers” were “specially of the circumcision,” they were probably deceiving people with the Law of Moses, something Paul elsewhere called “vain jangling” (I Tim. 1:6,7).  Our Apostle Paul says that “we are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:15), so the Law shouldn’t be taught as something that is binding on God’s people in the present dispensation of grace.  That’s why Paul calls men who adhere to the law “deceivers,” for they are misleading God’s people about the truth for the present dispensation.

But before you decide to look down your nose on those Jews for that, did you notice that Paul says that those vain talkers were “specially” of the circumcision?  That means they weren’t all of the circumcision.  There were Gentiles who were deceiving people with the Law as well as Jews.

If you’re wondering why Gentiles would teach a law that God gave the Jews for a past dispensation, it is because Satan always makes sure that undispensational things are popular.  And things that are popular are also usually very lucrative.  So it is no surprise that Paul went on to say that these deceivers were “teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake” (Tit. 1:11).  Even today, if you’re a deceitful Gentile preacher who wants to gain a large following and build a big church that can afford to pay you a handsome salary, teaching the Law of Moses is definitely the way to go!

Now if you’re thinking that teaching the law in the dispensation of grace isn’t a serious thing, you’re not thinking like Paul!  Speaking of those “deceivers,” Paul wrote, “whose mouths must be stopped!”  The Law of Moses may be in the Bible, but it is not in Paul’s epistles, the part of the Bible written to people living today in the dispensation of grace.  It has well been said that Satan doesn’t care if you are Biblical in your teaching, as long as you aren’t dispensationally Biblical.

That’s why we here at Berean Bible Society are doing our best to stop the mouths of any and all religious deceivers by standing firmly for the proclamation of “the gospel of the grace of God” committed to Paul (Acts 20:24).  If you’d like to join us in our stand, why not consider forwarding some of our Two Minutes devotionals to your friends after reading them?  It only takes the touch of a few keyboard keys, and you’ll be eternally glad you did!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.