Pow-wow, I've just been reviewing a selection of commentaries - from the 1577 Geneva Study Bible to Tom Wright's recent 'Romans and the Theology of Paul', via Matthew Henry, the IVP New Bible Commentary of 1994, and Martin Luther's well-known commentary on Romans.


All of them state that Romans 13:1-7 deals with the Christian's response and responsibility to government, and that government's responsibility and right to punish those who break the laws they make.  Clearly, there is nothing other than a local/national - perhaps even empire-wide - context.  It has nothing to do with punishing people in a different jurisdiction.

Unless you can find a half-dozen or so commentary references that say otherwise, perhaps you ought to move on from Romans 13 and try and find some other scriptural support for your opinion expressed on this thread.