diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/context.py b/python/pyspark/sql/context.py
index 78ab2e81bfce2d767ba4015f1f69d699021af96a..02e742c1249c3f3ecdaf0de8f3bde54e6e458c12 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/context.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/context.py
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ class HiveContext(SQLContext):
 
     def __init__(self, sparkContext, jhiveContext=None):
         if jhiveContext is None:
-            sparkSession = SparkSession.withHiveSupport(sparkContext)
+            sparkSession = SparkSession.builder.enableHiveSupport().getOrCreate()
         else:
             sparkSession = SparkSession(sparkContext, jhiveContext.sparkSession())
         SQLContext.__init__(self, sparkContext, sparkSession, jhiveContext)