I'm not taking issue with your point and the usage was more centered on "But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer" (v. 4) showing that execution was sanctioned in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament.
"But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain!
The Bible has many opportunities to be used for mischief by quotes in and out of context.
In Isaiah 2:4, people are commended to "beat their swords into plowshares", while in Joel 3:10, the plowshares are beaten back into swords. The pacifists's have used the former as Biblical command to not defend their country, but never the latter to take up arms in defense.
As well, the Hebrew word used in the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not murder" has been corrupted by pacifists into "Thou Shalt not Kill" in order to proscribe capital punishment, when it was not meant to do so. After all, it was the Jewish Pharisee's, keepers the Ten Commandments, that condemned Christ to the cross. Christ did not condemn the use of the cross, but he did question the process that led Him there. That process used the same "authority" that is mentioned above.
My concern is that man has a tendency to attempt to rule others claiming such authority from the Bible. The Bible should be our guide and our conscience, but not our authority. That belongs to God. Here, in the USA, power and authority are declared and limited in the Constitution of the United States. That document is our "earthly" scripture and our only authority, or we will become like the Middle East.