Did Rosa Parks sin when she refused to give up her seat, per Romans 13:1-7?

Romans 13:1-7. 

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.

First, what is the role of the government? To protect and serve those it governs. Second, what is our role (as Christians particularly) in relation to the government? To submit to its authority (1 Peter 2:11-17), UNLESS it defies God (Acts 5:29). This leads us to look at what Rosa Parks did and the law she "broke" when refusing to give up her seat. According to the National Archives, "Rosa Parks, an African American, was arrested that day for violating a city law requiring racial segregation of public buses. On the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, the front 10 seats were permanently reserved for white passengers. The diagram shows that Mrs. Parks was seated in the first row behind those 10 seats." 

The law that was in the place, though apparently not truly broken, had zero benefit to society. The government implemented it out of hatred for non-white people, most often black people. This law did not protect anyone nor did it serve God or honor His design for humanity in any manner. This law directly opposed the biblical view of humanity, that we are ALL made in God's image and our inherent value comes from that, not from our skin color or socioeconomic status or anything else. Every human is formed by God, fearfully and wonderfully made (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13-16; Romans 5:8). Therefore, Rosa Parks not getting up from her seat was in a sense disobedience to the government and social norms at the time, but it was truly obedient to God. I do not believe it can be said that Rosa Parks sinned in her refusal to bow the knee to the clear racism she faced. 

An interesting note to make is that this chapter follows up on Romans 12, which mentions leaving vengeance for the Lord. Rosa did not respond to the encounter with violence, but she did not bow down to the law which was in direct opposition to God. As Christians, we must seek to influence the law of the countries we live in so that they may best honor God, we must defy tyranny that blasphemes God. 

Additional reading: 

• The Purpose and Role of Government ESV.org.

• What does the Bible say about government? GotQuestions.org.