diff --git a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/hive/HiveFromSpark.scala b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/hive/HiveFromSpark.scala
index ff33091621..a15cf5ded0 100644
--- a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/hive/HiveFromSpark.scala
+++ b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/hive/HiveFromSpark.scala
@@ -36,15 +36,19 @@ object HiveFromSpark {
 
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
     val sparkConf = new SparkConf().setAppName("HiveFromSpark")
-    val sc = new SparkContext(sparkConf)
 
     // A hive context adds support for finding tables in the MetaStore and writing queries
     // using HiveQL. Users who do not have an existing Hive deployment can still create a
     // HiveContext. When not configured by the hive-site.xml, the context automatically
     // creates metastore_db and warehouse in the current directory.
-    val sparkSession = SparkSession.withHiveSupport(sc)
-    import sparkSession.implicits._
-    import sparkSession.sql
+    val spark = SparkSession.builder
+      .config(sparkConf)
+      .enableHiveSupport()
+      .getOrCreate()
+    val sc = spark.sparkContext
+
+    import spark.implicits._
+    import spark.sql
 
     sql("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS src (key INT, value STRING)")
     sql(s"LOAD DATA LOCAL INPATH '${kv1File.getAbsolutePath}' INTO TABLE src")
@@ -74,7 +78,7 @@ object HiveFromSpark {
     println("Result of SELECT *:")
     sql("SELECT * FROM records r JOIN src s ON r.key = s.key").collect().foreach(println)
 
-    sc.stop()
+    spark.stop()
   }
 }
 // scalastyle:on println
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
index aa7c335c53..9ed3756628 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
@@ -816,17 +816,4 @@ object SparkSession {
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Create a new [[SparkSession]] with a catalog backed by Hive.
-   */
-  def withHiveSupport(sc: SparkContext): SparkSession = {
-    if (hiveClassesArePresent) {
-      sc.conf.set(CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION.key, "hive")
-      new SparkSession(sc)
-    } else {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-        "Unable to instantiate SparkSession with Hive support because Hive classes are not found.")
-    }
-  }
-
 }
diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
index 665a44e51a..8de223f444 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
@@ -54,13 +54,15 @@ private[hive] object SparkSQLEnv extends Logging {
           "spark.kryo.referenceTracking",
           maybeKryoReferenceTracking.getOrElse("false"))
 
-      sparkContext = new SparkContext(sparkConf)
-      sqlContext = SparkSession.withHiveSupport(sparkContext).wrapped
-      val sessionState = sqlContext.sessionState.asInstanceOf[HiveSessionState]
+      val sparkSession = SparkSession.builder.config(sparkConf).enableHiveSupport().getOrCreate()
+      sparkContext = sparkSession.sparkContext
+      sqlContext = sparkSession.wrapped
+
+      val sessionState = sparkSession.sessionState.asInstanceOf[HiveSessionState]
       sessionState.metadataHive.setOut(new PrintStream(System.out, true, "UTF-8"))
       sessionState.metadataHive.setInfo(new PrintStream(System.err, true, "UTF-8"))
       sessionState.metadataHive.setError(new PrintStream(System.err, true, "UTF-8"))
-      sqlContext.setConf("spark.sql.hive.version", HiveUtils.hiveExecutionVersion)
+      sparkSession.conf.set("spark.sql.hive.version", HiveUtils.hiveExecutionVersion)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveSparkSubmitSuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveSparkSubmitSuite.scala
index 77a6a94a67..a320011799 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveSparkSubmitSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveSparkSubmitSuite.scala
@@ -290,8 +290,11 @@ object SetWarehouseLocationTest extends Logging {
     conf.set("spark.sql.warehouse.dir", warehouseLocation.toString)
     conf.set("hive.metastore.warehouse.dir", hiveWarehouseLocation.toString)
 
-    val sc = new SparkContext(conf)
-    val sparkSession = SparkSession.withHiveSupport(sc)
+    val sparkSession = SparkSession.builder
+      .config(conf)
+      .enableHiveSupport()
+      .getOrCreate()
+
     val catalog = sparkSession.sessionState.catalog
 
     sparkSession.sql("drop table if exists testLocation")