Even Jesus did that. You can see where Jesus went through the ritual of being baptized, just as men did. It wasn’t to wash away HIS sins as other people were symbolically doing, because He was sinless, but He did it for other reasons. And one of those reasons was to give us an example to follow. He not only followed God’s laws, but also man’s (when it was the right thing to do). He did that when He paid the taxes of the land and didn’t argue about following man’s laws. He said, “Give to Caesar, what is Caesar’s.”

He also was big on publicly showing others what is important to God. You can see that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In John 11:41 it says, “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE STANDING HERE, that they may believe that you sent me.’” Public demonstrations of our love and commitment to God can lead others back to Him.

If you read Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:16-17, you will see how it is recommended to us to follow man’s laws when they don’t contradict God’s. By doing so, we may win others to Christ by our good example.

We have many freedoms as followers of Christ. But we aren’t to run over people, or man’s laws, in order to practice our freedoms unless God asks it of us. But I can’t even imagine that God would say, “Do not make your marriage legal in the eyes of man.” It would could hurt your witness with non-believers if they found out you weren’t legally married and were living together (even if you vowed quietly before God of your covenant with Him). It would show your contentiousness in following the laws. And remember the verse in the Bible where Jesus talks of confessing our love for Him publicly because if we don’t confess Him “before men, neither will I confess you before my Father who is in heaven.” Again, public acclamation is important. You don’t have to have a big elaborate wedding to do so, but some type of legal public confession could benefit your witness to others.

I’m reminded of the verse in 1 Corinthians 8:9 where it says, “Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block.” Also 1 Corinthians 9:12 says, “We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.” And 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 says, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one not having the law, so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

Also, 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “Everything is permissible — but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible — but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”

Jesus did that. We can see in Philippians 2 where it tells us how Jesus emptied Himself of his rights and “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” He didn’t consider His rights above the good of winning others.

You may think you have the freedom not to make a “legal contract with the world” as far as marrying, but are you trying to cling to your own freedoms and forgetting the witness you are to be to the world to draw others to the Lord?

I could go on and on, but I won’t. But I appeal to you to pray about what you are asking and consider what would please GOD so you may be the best witness to those around who don’t know Him. I believe that if you legally marry as well as enter into a covenant with God, you will have more doors open to witness to others of the love of God and how He can make your marriage the best it can be.

There’s a good article posted at http://www.gotquestions.org/marriage-constitutes.html that might help you further with all of this.

In conclusion, I want to say that sometimes we “miss the forest for the trees” as the old saying goes. We want to cling to our rights and see how close we can put our toe up to the line of what we can and can’t do, and still follow the Lord’s ways. But by doing that we neglect being generous (as God is generous with us) and going beyond what is asked of us (going the extra mile). I would much rather do MORE than is expected of me, in order to win some, than to do less.

But You need to ask God about all of this. I hope you will. I sense your motives on asking this question is pure rather than argumentative. I encourage you to “seek and knock” at the right doors — especially through prayer, and God will reveal to you His will.