Let us consider carefully what it really means when we are told that "Christ died _for our sins_,"--1 Cor. 15:3, that He "gave himself _for our sins_,"--Gal. 1:4; that "his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree,"--1 Peter 2:24; that "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous."--1 Peter 3:18. God's word explains it clearly: "That he might himself be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus."--Rom. 3:26. "_That he might be just._" Notice it carefully, "_That he might be just._" Take it in its full meaning, "That he might be just." A question: How _could_ God be _just_ and _justify_ any sinner apart from the fact that "Christ died for our sins," that "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all"? Reader, no man, however learned, will ever answer that question. He may sneer; he may cavil; he may warp; he may try to confuse; but he will never come out in the open and answer that question. He may say that it is morally wrong for the innocent to bear the penalty of the guilty, but that objection is met and answered above in this chapter. Let us face a trilemma; three, and only three plans, were possible for God with man:-- First, To have been just with man, without any love or mercy; hence, for every sinner to have suffered the just penalty for his sins, without any redemption. That would have meant Hell for every responsible human being, without any Heaven at all. Second, To have been all mercy and all love and no justice. That would have meant no moral laws; for why have moral laws, if there would be no penalty, no justice? That would have meant a premium on crime. That would have meant the debased, the debauched, the immoral, the drunken, the fiend, on a level with the chaste, the pure, the upright, the true. That would have meant unbridled rein to passion and lust and every other evil inclination, and no penalty following. That would have meant Hell in trying to get rid of Hell. Third, There was left but one other possible plan, to be just and at the same time extend love to the sinners. In the nature of the case, real redemption, without any makeshift, was the only way this _could_ be done. "Even so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up,"--John 3:14; "that he himself might be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus,"--Rom. 3:26; "God so _loved_ the world that he gave his only begotten Son,"--John 3:16; "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be _the propitiation for our sins_."--1 John 4:10. This leads to another question: How can God be _just_ and _not_ justify "him that hath faith in Jesus"? Again men may quibble and warp, and ridicule, but no one will ever answer the question. And the reason why this question will never be answered leads to another question: