Injustice and justice balance each other. One might even go so far as to say that the two are the same thing, that they are two sides of the same coin. But why are they so important? Why were wars waged due to cases of injustice? Why are the two usually considered separate? Both Euripides' Electra and Matthew's King James Version suggest that justice and injustice are important and distinct because one leads to salvation, while the other is itself a kind of salvation. Injustice leads to the demand for justice, for salvation. Consequently, injustice and justice can be thought of as two separate and distinct ideas. Salvation is a concern that depends on cases of injustice and justice. In Electra and Matthew, these examples of injustice and justice are acts of murder. The injustice that Orestes and Electra inflict on Aegisthus and Clytemnestra is similar to the injustice that humanity inflicts on Jesus. In Electra, Orestes states that he must "slay [his] father's murderers" (El. 287) at the command of Apollo. After killing their mother, however, Electra and Orestes regret what they have done. Likewise, Jesus tells his disciples that "he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed" (King James Version, Matthew 16.21). The murder of Jesus is ordained by God, just as the murders of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra are ordained by a god. These murders are particularly brutal, suggesting that the murdered must experience gratuitous suffering in order to achieve salvation. But even the murderers are not spared their own suffering. Orestes and Judas confess strikingly similar regrets for their actions. Judah says, "I have sinned in that I have...... middle of paper....... Salvation would be meaningless and empty without a purpose. And in fact, salvation serves to fulfill a purpose in Electra and in Matthew. In Electra Castor states that the gods save not "those who kill pollutants, but those who hold all pious and just things precious in life" (El. 1395-97), suggesting that salvation is not attainable only for those who are judged pious or simply worthy of receiving the salvation of the gods - just as in Matthew God, like the gods in Electra, offers salvation only to those who are worthy of receiving salvation, Jesus urges people to "seek... above all the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6, 33), because one can only enter Heaven by being truly prepared in terms of faith and goodness. The purpose of salvation for both the gods and God is to reward those who have met the conditions established by the deities to be worthy.