What is the meaning of “Nec Tamen Consumebatur” and the burning bush seal?
The Latin phrase, “nec tamen consumebatur” comes from Exodus chapter 3:
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
OPC Pastor and student of Scottish Presbyterianism Glenn Ferrel wrote:
“The burning bush is used not as a symbol for God in any of his persons, and has never been used like the cross in processions or something to bow down to. It is more of a heraldic symbol used since 1691 as a symbol for the Church of Scotland and some groups claiming to be a continuation of the CoS (FcoS, FcoSC, FPCoS). The motto, “NEC TAMEN CONSUMEBATUR,” “it was not however consumed,” refers to the people of God, perhaps with the recent persecution of the Covenanters in mind when it first appeared.”
When did this usage originate?
“[Its use] was likely influenced by remarks made by Reformer John Calvin [1509-1564] in his commentary on the book of Acts. Commenting specifically upon Acts 7:30, which references Moses' encounter with God in the wilderness of Sinai, Calvin had observed that the burning bush constitutes an especially appropriate metaphor or image of the church militant throughout the ages. The church is continually subject to, in Calvin's words, the "fire of persecution," yet—in keeping with Christ's promise (cf. Matt. 16:18)—it is ever kept "from being consumed to ashes," sustained not by its own strength but by the presence of God in its midst. Calvin's description of the church and the sufferings it must endure, symbolically represented by the burning bush, would have resonated deeply with the Huguenot leaders gathered in 1583. The Reformed faith was illegal in France, and French Reformed believers had been subjected to severe treatment in the preceding decades. Persecution had peaked eleven years earlier with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, an episode in which thousands of Reformed Protestants in Paris and other major cities throughout the country had been slaughtered for their convictions.” (Ligonier Article)
In reflecting on a period of similar persecution of the Reformed faith in Scotland (the Killing Times of the Covenanting period), the Scottish Kirk also adopted this symbol of the Church not consumed by persecution.
“[In 1691, printer] George Mossman… introduced a title page that year which carried a representation of the burning bush. It was accompanied by the words: Nec Tamen Consumebatur.
…the burning bush emblem became the official mark of the Church for use on stationery, banners, signs, and other material.
…the printer deliberately used the wording in its new context to celebrate the liberation that came following the bloodless revolution of 1689 when the suffering of the Church involving the monarchy and the Covenanters was finally over.” (Church of Scotland website)
Thus, as Pastor Ferrell wrote, the heraldic seal of the Scottish Kirk and those who continued to maintain faithfulness to her original Constitution: the Free Church of Scotland and now its Continuing churches, have rightful claim to its use.
Why use Latin?
Latin was the language of scholars in the scholastic and high reformation periods. Latin proved extremely useful in the academy and the training of ministers in the Reformed churches for centuries. In fact, ministers from the continent were able to come and teach students for the ministry at Oxford in England because they could teach in Latin and the students were all competent to understand, whereas few in England spoke Dutch.
Until Charles Hodge (1797-1878) published his English Systematic Theology, students for the ministry at Princeton all were required to read Francis Turretin’s work in the original Latin. Half of Hodge’s works were written in Latin. It was simply the language of theological scholarship in the Western World until it was overtaken by English.
It was ordinary for any person of some education in the 16th - 19th centuries to have studied Latin and many classic Reformed works are still being translated from Latin to English for the first time in our present day, including the much-lauded systematic theology of Petrus Van Mastricht (Reformation Heritage Books).
