# First Hevetic Confession
Article 17 - The Power of the Church
But the very authority of the word, and of feeding the Lord’s flock, which is properly the power of the keys, prescribing to all — equally to the highest and to the lowest, is sacrosanct and inviolable. Either by the calling of God, or by a certain and deliberate vote of the church, it must be entrusted only to those chosen to minister.

[Jeremiah 1](/get-passage/Jeremiah+1); [Matthew 16](/get-passage/Matthew+16); [John 20](/get-passage/John+20); [Acts 13](/get-passage/Acts+13); [1 Thessalonians 4](/get-passage/1+Thessalonians+4).