In military terms, a defector is called a turncoat. He reverses his coat to hide his former loyalty. He lowers one flag and raises another, abandoning one allegiance for another banner.
This is the kind of language Paul uses in Galatians 1:6. The believers in the region were transferring allegiance. They were turning from the God who called them in grace toward a different message that laid great burdens upon the lives of believers and unbelievers alike. Paul uses the words “deserting” and “turning” to describe it:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
Galatians 1:6-9
No one expects a turncoat. It happens suddenly. It’s a shocking reversal of established loyalty and trust. Allegiance shifts without warning. This is why Paul’s response is understandable, “I am astonished” (Gal. 1:6). The Greek word is thaumazō, meaning to be struck with surprise. Paul is not mildly disappointed. He is stunned.
Throughout the New Testament, the word appears in extraordinary circumstances. The crowds marveled at Jesus’ authority over nature (Matt. 8:27; Mk. 5:20). Jesus marveled at remarkable faith (Matt. 8:10) and at unbelief (Mk. 6:6). Here, Paul marvels at something different—the desertion of believers from grace. He is alarmed by what he has heard. He simply can’t believe it!
Notably, his astonishment is not directed at the false teachers. He expects opposition (Acts 20:29–30; 2 Cor. 11:3–4). False teachers don’t surprise him. What stuns him is the speed at which the Galatian believers are drifting. Paul rarely uses this expression of shock, and its placement at the opening of the letter sets the tone. This is an urgent concern.
The Defection
Paul’s concern was urgent because the turncoating was swift. We cannot be certain how much time had passed since he left Galatia, but he says, “you are so quickly deserting” (Gal. 1:6). He likely has in mind the short duration since his departure. Most scholars suggest roughly a year. Whatever the exact timeline, their drift was happening in the immediate shadow of his ministry. That is what makes it alarming.
A gospel that depends on human performance cannot secure freedom.
In contemporary terms, turncoating best captures the force of “deserting” and “turning” in verse 6. For centuries, the term has described political and military defectors—those who transfer allegiance from one authority to another. Because Paul uses the present tense in the original language, the Galatians were not finished defecting. Rather, they were in the process. That explains his urgency. They were “deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6). Their movement was relational. They were drifting from God Himself.
Yet Paul still describes them as those who were “called” (Gal. 1:6). This language consistently refers to God’s effectual summons to salvation. When the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit brings about faith in those whom God calls. As Paul told the Corinthians, “We preach Christ crucified… but to those who are called… Christ [is] the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:23–24). The gospel goes out broadly, but only some respond in faith—those whom God calls. Paul uses the same language elsewhere: “To this he called you through our gospel” (2 Thess. 2:14), and God “saved us and called us to a holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9). In Galatians 1:6, he acknowledges their genuine conversion even as he confronts their dangerous drift.
This does not mean they were losing their salvation. Paul later expresses confidence that they will “adopt no other view” (Gal. 5:10) and reminds them that they received the Spirit by hearing with faith (Gal. 3:2–3). His concern is not the collapse of redemption but the corruption of clarity. They were being “bewitched” and hindered from obeying the truth (Gal. 3:1; 5:7). If tolerated, such distortion would unsettle assurance, weaken witness, and plunge the churches into confusion. Paul writes urgently because drift, if unchecked, becomes departure.
The Direction
Turncoating is not only a turning from. It is also a turning to. The Galatians were “turning to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6). The word translated “different” is heteros, meaning another of a different kind. English readers recognize this root in words like heterodoxy, beliefs that deviate from what is right. The Galatians were tolerating a gospel of a different kind—a message that deviated from the true gospel. And as Paul quickly clarifies, such a gospel is no gospel at all (Gal. 1:7). It does not originate from God, it does not center on Christ alone, and it does not align with the apostolic message (Gal. 1:11). There is no acceptable variation of the saving gospel.
The teachers leading this defection were Judaizers. They were sneaky. They affirmed Jesus, but supplemented Him with Moses. They taught that what grace began, the law must complete. But supplementation is subversion. If law-keeping contributes to justification, then grace is nullified (Gal. 2:21). The gospel does not require ritual, ceremony, or human effort to secure standing before God. When such additions are imposed as necessary for salvation, they do not enhance faith—they undermine it. A gospel that depends on human performance cannot secure freedom, because it shifts confidence away from Christ’s finished work and onto the sinner’s ability to contribute.
A turncoat will shift his loyalty before he turns his coat inside-out. That is Paul’s warning to the Galatians. They were not renouncing Christ publicly, but they were relocating their confidence—from grace to law, from Christ’s finished work to human effort. And once allegiance shifts, the banner soon follows. The gospel does not need improvement, supplementation, or completion. It needs to be guarded. Because when believers begin to tolerate a different message, even subtly, they are not merely adjusting doctrine—they are reversing their coat. And when grace is abandoned, freedom disappears.
