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Here's the argument in a nutshell. God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. Because he is perfectly just, there must be punishment for our sins. Because he is perfectly merciful, he sent Christ as a way for us to be saved from our sins. It's in this way we know that Christ has to be God and man. He has to be God, because only God can bear the sins of the entire world. He has to be man, because only a man can die for the sins of man.
But why would God allow someone to bear the sins that we deserve to bear? I don't know. All I know is that it is the case. Some people use the example of a judge ordering his delinquent son to pay a fine, and then paying it himself. It's a pretty bad analogy, but maybe it helps.
Note the significance of the two events that we'll be celebrating next weekend. Good Friday is the victory of Christ over sin; Easter is his victory over death. These victories could only be accomplished by Christ; a death in sin is just a death.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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