[2:204] And among people there is he whose speech in the life of this world pleases you; and who calls on God to witness what is in his heart; yet he is most stubborn in dispute.
He states that for some people whom the Real (swt) has turned away from their hearts, He has given them skill in speaking outwardly. But He has also bound their hearts to the ropes of deprivation and they are covered by their own ignorance. There is no meaning at bottom in them and nothing of weight in what they say. One cannot rely upon their faithfulness, nor trust in them in any way.
The allusion is to the people of external appearances (ahl al-ẓahir) who have not been helped by the lights of insight so they are bound to the precepts of the external world. They have no faith in this discourse and no insight into this as a whole. It is necessary to protect secrets from them, since they will only receive this discourse with disapproval. Peaceable people among ordinary people who have respect for this path and faith in the whole of this discourse are closer to this way by far than those who count themselves among the elect but are cut off from faith in this affair.