luther on the mosaic law

The Law of Moses Binds Only the Jews and Not the Gentiles

"Here the law of Moses has its place. It is no longer binding on us (New Testament believers)
because it was given only to the people of Israel. And Israel accepted
this law for itself and its descendants, while the Gentiles were
excluded. To be sure, the Gentiles have certain laws in common with
the Jews, such as these: there is one God, no one is to do wrong to
another, no one is to commit adultery or murder or steal, and others
like them. This is written by nature into their hearts; they did not
hear it straight from heaven as the Jews did. This is why this entire
text does not pertain to the Gentiles. I say this on account of the
enthusiasts. (2) For you see and hear how they read Moses, extol
him, and bring up the way he ruled the people with commandments. They
try to be clever, and think they know something more than is presented
in the gospel; so they minimize faith, contrive something new, and
boastfully claim that it comes from the Old Testament. They desire to
govern people according to the letter of the law of Moses, as if no
one had ever read it before.

But we will not have this sort of thing. We would rather not preach
again for the rest of our life than to let Moses return and to let
Christ be torn out of our hearts. We will not have Moses as ruler or
lawgiver any longer. Indeed God himself will not have it either. Moses
was an intermediary solely for the Jewish people. It was to them that
he gave the law. We must therefore silence the mouths of those
factious spirits who say, "Thus says Moses," etc. Here you simply
reply: Moses has nothing to do with us. If I were to accept Moses in
one commandment, I would have to accept the entire Moses. Thus the
consequence would be that if I accept Moses as master, then I must
have myself circumcised, (3) wash my clothes in the Jewish way, eat
and drink and dress thus and so, and observe all that stuff. So, then,
we will neither observe nor accept Moses. Moses is dead. His rule
ended when Christ came. He is of no further service."


from http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Luther_on_Moses.html