Jacob will not discourse on the effect of law. He divides the effect of law into two categories. The first is the children of God who are without law, or have not received these laws during life. The second set are those who have received the laws.
Jacob spends two verses on those without law, and much of the rest of the chapter speaking to and about those who have received the law.
Anthropological analysis: With this contrast between those with and without the law, and the clear emphasis on those who have the law compared to the quick assessment of those with the law, we might again turn to the possible mixed nature of Jacob's audience. If the audience consists of both those who are Lehites/Nephites and to a set of outsiders who have joined them, the question of the state of those without law answers a specific question that the newly converted members of their society would have for their families. However, both they and the Nephites would require the admonitions of the prophet to take care to live the gospel.