diff --git a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
index 56eceb8343..fb879e4885 100644
--- a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
+++ b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ importFrom("utils", "download.file", "object.size", "packageVersion", "tail", "u
 
 # S3 methods exported
 export("sparkR.session")
+export("sparkR.init")
 export("sparkR.session.stop")
 export("sparkR.stop")
 export("sparkR.conf")
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ export("sparkR.callJStatic")
 
 export("install.spark")
 
+export("sparkRSQL.init",
+       "sparkRHive.init")
+
 # MLlib integration
 exportMethods("glm",
               "spark.glm",
@@ -148,6 +152,7 @@ exportMethods("arrange",
               "printSchema",
               "randomSplit",
               "rbind",
+              "registerTempTable",
               "rename",
               "repartition",
               "repartitionByRange",
@@ -431,8 +436,10 @@ export("as.DataFrame",
        "cacheTable",
        "clearCache",
        "createDataFrame",
+       "createExternalTable",
        "createTable",
        "currentDatabase",
+       "dropTempTable",
        "dropTempView",
        "listColumns",
        "listDatabases",
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
index 593d3ca162..14d2076e88 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
@@ -521,6 +521,32 @@ setMethod("createOrReplaceTempView",
               invisible(callJMethod(x@sdf, "createOrReplaceTempView", viewName))
           })
 
+#' (Deprecated) Register Temporary Table
+#'
+#' Registers a SparkDataFrame as a Temporary Table in the SparkSession
+#' @param x A SparkDataFrame
+#' @param tableName A character vector containing the name of the table
+#'
+#' @seealso \link{createOrReplaceTempView}
+#' @rdname registerTempTable-deprecated
+#' @name registerTempTable
+#' @aliases registerTempTable,SparkDataFrame,character-method
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sparkR.session()
+#' path <- "path/to/file.json"
+#' df <- read.json(path)
+#' registerTempTable(df, "json_df")
+#' new_df <- sql("SELECT * FROM json_df")
+#'}
+#' @note registerTempTable since 1.4.0
+setMethod("registerTempTable",
+          signature(x = "SparkDataFrame", tableName = "character"),
+          function(x, tableName) {
+              .Deprecated("createOrReplaceTempView")
+              invisible(callJMethod(x@sdf, "createOrReplaceTempView", tableName))
+          })
+
 #' insertInto
 #'
 #' Insert the contents of a SparkDataFrame into a table registered in the current SparkSession.
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/catalog.R b/R/pkg/R/catalog.R
index 7641f8a7a0..275737f804 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/catalog.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/catalog.R
@@ -17,6 +17,35 @@
 
 # catalog.R: SparkSession catalog functions
 
+#' (Deprecated) Create an external table
+#'
+#' Creates an external table based on the dataset in a data source,
+#' Returns a SparkDataFrame associated with the external table.
+#'
+#' The data source is specified by the \code{source} and a set of options(...).
+#' If \code{source} is not specified, the default data source configured by
+#' "spark.sql.sources.default" will be used.
+#'
+#' @param tableName a name of the table.
+#' @param path the path of files to load.
+#' @param source the name of external data source.
+#' @param schema the schema of the data required for some data sources.
+#' @param ... additional argument(s) passed to the method.
+#' @return A SparkDataFrame.
+#' @rdname createExternalTable-deprecated
+#' @seealso \link{createTable}
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sparkR.session()
+#' df <- createExternalTable("myjson", path="path/to/json", source="json", schema)
+#' }
+#' @name createExternalTable
+#' @note createExternalTable since 1.4.0
+createExternalTable <- function(tableName, path = NULL, source = NULL, schema = NULL, ...) {
+  .Deprecated("createTable", old = "createExternalTable")
+  createTable(tableName, path, source, schema, ...)
+}
+
 #' Creates a table based on the dataset in a data source
 #'
 #' Creates a table based on the dataset in a data source. Returns a SparkDataFrame associated with
@@ -130,6 +159,31 @@ clearCache <- function() {
   invisible(callJMethod(catalog, "clearCache"))
 }
 
+#' (Deprecated) Drop Temporary Table
+#'
+#' Drops the temporary table with the given table name in the catalog.
+#' If the table has been cached/persisted before, it's also unpersisted.
+#'
+#' @param tableName The name of the SparkSQL table to be dropped.
+#' @seealso \link{dropTempView}
+#' @rdname dropTempTable-deprecated
+#' @examples
+#' \dontrun{
+#' sparkR.session()
+#' df <- read.df(path, "parquet")
+#' createOrReplaceTempView(df, "table")
+#' dropTempTable("table")
+#' }
+#' @name dropTempTable
+#' @note dropTempTable since 1.4.0
+dropTempTable <- function(tableName) {
+  .Deprecated("dropTempView", old = "dropTempTable")
+  if (class(tableName) != "character") {
+    stop("tableName must be a string.")
+  }
+  dropTempView(tableName)
+}
+
 #' Drops the temporary view with the given view name in the catalog.
 #'
 #' Drops the temporary view with the given view name in the catalog.
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/generics.R b/R/pkg/R/generics.R
index 6f6ef6f363..d924b2af4c 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/generics.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/generics.R
@@ -528,6 +528,9 @@ setGeneric("persist", function(x, newLevel) { standardGeneric("persist") })
 #' @rdname printSchema
 setGeneric("printSchema", function(x) { standardGeneric("printSchema") })
 
+#' @rdname registerTempTable-deprecated
+setGeneric("registerTempTable", function(x, tableName) { standardGeneric("registerTempTable") })
+
 #' @rdname rename
 setGeneric("rename", function(x, ...) { standardGeneric("rename") })
 
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
index cdb5909378..cc8c92b8ab 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
@@ -88,6 +88,49 @@ sparkR.stop <- function() {
   sparkR.session.stop()
 }
 
+#' (Deprecated) Initialize a new Spark Context
+#'
+#' This function initializes a new SparkContext.
+#'
+#' @param master The Spark master URL
+#' @param appName Application name to register with cluster manager
+#' @param sparkHome Spark Home directory
+#' @param sparkEnvir Named list of environment variables to set on worker nodes
+#' @param sparkExecutorEnv Named list of environment variables to be used when launching executors
+#' @param sparkJars Character vector of jar files to pass to the worker nodes
+#' @param sparkPackages Character vector of package coordinates
+#' @seealso \link{sparkR.session}
+#' @rdname sparkR.init-deprecated
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init("local[2]", "SparkR", "/home/spark")
+#' sc <- sparkR.init("local[2]", "SparkR", "/home/spark",
+#'                  list(spark.executor.memory="1g"))
+#' sc <- sparkR.init("yarn-client", "SparkR", "/home/spark",
+#'                  list(spark.executor.memory="4g"),
+#'                  list(LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/directory of JVM libraries (libjvm.so) on workers/"),
+#'                  c("one.jar", "two.jar", "three.jar"),
+#'                  c("com.databricks:spark-avro_2.11:2.0.1"))
+#'}
+#' @note sparkR.init since 1.4.0
+sparkR.init <- function(
+  master = "",
+  appName = "SparkR",
+  sparkHome = Sys.getenv("SPARK_HOME"),
+  sparkEnvir = list(),
+  sparkExecutorEnv = list(),
+  sparkJars = "",
+  sparkPackages = "") {
+  .Deprecated("sparkR.session")
+  sparkR.sparkContext(master,
+     appName,
+     sparkHome,
+     convertNamedListToEnv(sparkEnvir),
+     convertNamedListToEnv(sparkExecutorEnv),
+     sparkJars,
+     sparkPackages)
+}
+
 # Internal function to handle creating the SparkContext.
 sparkR.sparkContext <- function(
   master = "",
@@ -229,6 +272,61 @@ sparkR.sparkContext <- function(
   sc
 }
 
+#' (Deprecated) Initialize a new SQLContext
+#'
+#' This function creates a SparkContext from an existing JavaSparkContext and
+#' then uses it to initialize a new SQLContext
+#'
+#' Starting SparkR 2.0, a SparkSession is initialized and returned instead.
+#' This API is deprecated and kept for backward compatibility only.
+#'
+#' @param jsc The existing JavaSparkContext created with SparkR.init()
+#' @seealso \link{sparkR.session}
+#' @rdname sparkRSQL.init-deprecated
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init()
+#' sqlContext <- sparkRSQL.init(sc)
+#'}
+#' @note sparkRSQL.init since 1.4.0
+sparkRSQL.init <- function(jsc = NULL) {
+  .Deprecated("sparkR.session")
+
+  if (exists(".sparkRsession", envir = .sparkREnv)) {
+    return(get(".sparkRsession", envir = .sparkREnv))
+  }
+
+  # Default to without Hive support for backward compatibility.
+  sparkR.session(enableHiveSupport = FALSE)
+}
+
+#' (Deprecated) Initialize a new HiveContext
+#'
+#' This function creates a HiveContext from an existing JavaSparkContext
+#'
+#' Starting SparkR 2.0, a SparkSession is initialized and returned instead.
+#' This API is deprecated and kept for backward compatibility only.
+#'
+#' @param jsc The existing JavaSparkContext created with SparkR.init()
+#' @seealso \link{sparkR.session}
+#' @rdname sparkRHive.init-deprecated
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init()
+#' sqlContext <- sparkRHive.init(sc)
+#'}
+#' @note sparkRHive.init since 1.4.0
+sparkRHive.init <- function(jsc = NULL) {
+  .Deprecated("sparkR.session")
+
+  if (exists(".sparkRsession", envir = .sparkREnv)) {
+    return(get(".sparkRsession", envir = .sparkREnv))
+  }
+
+  # Default to without Hive support for backward compatibility.
+  sparkR.session(enableHiveSupport = TRUE)
+}
+
 #' Get the existing SparkSession or initialize a new SparkSession.
 #'
 #' SparkSession is the entry point into SparkR. \code{sparkR.session} gets the existing
diff --git a/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
index a5527298b4..c892feb61d 100644
--- a/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -106,6 +106,15 @@ if (is_windows()) {
   Sys.setenv(TZ = "GMT")
 }
 
+test_that("calling sparkRSQL.init returns existing SQL context", {
+  sqlContext <- suppressWarnings(sparkRSQL.init(sc))
+  expect_equal(suppressWarnings(sparkRSQL.init(sc)), sqlContext)
+})
+
+test_that("calling sparkRSQL.init returns existing SparkSession", {
+  expect_equal(suppressWarnings(sparkRSQL.init(sc)), sparkSession)
+})
+
 test_that("calling sparkR.session returns existing SparkSession", {
   expect_equal(sparkR.session(), sparkSession)
 })
@@ -656,10 +665,10 @@ test_that("test tableNames and tables", {
   expect_true("tableName" %in% colnames(tables()))
   expect_true(all(c("tableName", "database", "isTemporary") %in% colnames(tables())))
 
-  createOrReplaceTempView(df, "table2")
+  suppressWarnings(registerTempTable(df, "table2"))
   tables <- listTables()
   expect_equal(count(tables), count + 2)
-  dropTempView("table1")
+  suppressWarnings(dropTempTable("table1"))
   expect_true(dropTempView("table2"))
 
   tables <- listTables()
diff --git a/docs/sparkr-migration-guide.md b/docs/sparkr-migration-guide.md
index 6fbc4c03ae..32836cdac5 100644
--- a/docs/sparkr-migration-guide.md
+++ b/docs/sparkr-migration-guide.md
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ Please refer [Migration Guide: SQL, Datasets and DataFrame](sql-migration-guide.
 
 ## Upgrading from SparkR 2.4 to 3.0
 
- - The deprecated methods `sparkR.init`, `sparkRSQL.init`, `sparkRHive.init` have been removed. Use `sparkR.session` instead.
- - The deprecated methods `parquetFile`, `saveAsParquetFile`, `jsonFile`, `registerTempTable`, `createExternalTable`, and `dropTempTable` have been removed. Use `read.parquet`, `write.parquet`, `read.json`, `createOrReplaceTempView`, `createTable`, `dropTempView`, `union` instead.
+ - The deprecated methods `parquetFile`, `saveAsParquetFile`, `jsonFile`, `jsonRDD` have been removed. Use `read.parquet`, `write.parquet`, `read.json` instead.
 
 ## Upgrading from SparkR 2.3 to 2.4