1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
However, even here, there's not a tremendous amount to be said about what the role of Government is. It's clear that God has appointed rulers to their place, and has delegated his authority to enact judgement to them. When the authorities punishes, it is ultimately God who is punishing. The authorities act on God's authority, and it is therefore our duty to respect and obey them (where to do so is not to disobey God, obviously.)
It's also very clear that a ruler is "God's servant for your good" (verse 4.) So Government also has a role of... doing good for its subjects. That doesn't help us out that much.
One thing, however, that is helpful to remember from this passage is this - in a democracy, we are the rulers. We Therefore it is our responsibility to use our vote to a) enact justice, and b) do good to the subjects of this country. We aren't to use our votes in self-centred, selfish ways (e.g. to vote for the party that promises to give us things), but rather to use our vote to love other people. But that's not tremendously helpful!
