diff --git a/bin/pyspark b/bin/pyspark
index c39eb62ce5a82..01d42025c978e 100755
--- a/bin/pyspark
+++ b/bin/pyspark
@@ -27,10 +27,14 @@ source $FWDIR/bin/utils.sh
 
 SCALA_VERSION=2.10
 
-if [[ "$@" = *--help ]] || [[ "$@" = *-h ]]; then
+function usage() {
   echo "Usage: ./bin/pyspark [options]" 1>&2
   $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --help 2>&1 | grep -v Usage 1>&2
   exit 0
+}
+
+if [[ "$@" = *--help ]] || [[ "$@" = *-h ]]; then
+  usage
 fi
 
 # Exit if the user hasn't compiled Spark
@@ -68,11 +72,11 @@ fi
 # Build up arguments list manually to preserve quotes and backslashes.
 # We export Spark submit arguments as an environment variable because shell.py must run as a
 # PYTHONSTARTUP script, which does not take in arguments. This is required for IPython notebooks.
-
-gatherSparkSubmitOpts $@
+SUBMIT_USAGE_FUNCTION=usage
+gatherSparkSubmitOpts "$@"
 PYSPARK_SUBMIT_ARGS=""
 whitespace="[[:space:]]"
-for i in ${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}; do
+for i in "${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}"; do
   if [[ $i =~ \" ]]; then i=$(echo $i | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g'); fi
   if [[ $i =~ $whitespace ]]; then i=\"$i\"; fi
   PYSPARK_SUBMIT_ARGS="$PYSPARK_SUBMIT_ARGS $i"
@@ -95,8 +99,8 @@ if [[ "$1" =~ \.py$ ]]; then
   echo -e "Use ./bin/spark-submit <python file>\n" 1>&2
   primary=$1
   shift
-  gatherSparkSubmitOpts $@
-  exec $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit ${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]} $primary ${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}
+  gatherSparkSubmitOpts "$@"
+  exec $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit "${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}" $primary "${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}"
 else
   # Only use ipython if no command line arguments were provided [SPARK-1134]
   if [[ "$IPYTHON" = "1" ]]; then
diff --git a/bin/spark-shell b/bin/spark-shell
index c30fd5cb89303..8b7ccd7439551 100755
--- a/bin/spark-shell
+++ b/bin/spark-shell
@@ -31,14 +31,19 @@ set -o posix
 ## Global script variables
 FWDIR="$(cd `dirname $0`/..; pwd)"
 
+function usage() {
+    echo "Usage: ./bin/spark-shell [options]"
+    $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --help 2>&1 | grep -v Usage 1>&2
+    exit 0
+}
+
 if [[ "$@" = *--help ]] || [[ "$@" = *-h ]]; then
-  echo "Usage: ./bin/spark-shell [options]"
-  $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --help 2>&1 | grep -v Usage 1>&2
-  exit 0
+  usage
 fi
 
 source $FWDIR/bin/utils.sh
-gatherSparkSubmitOpts $@
+SUBMIT_USAGE_FUNCTION=usage
+gatherSparkSubmitOpts "$@"
 
 function main() {
     if $cygwin; then
@@ -49,11 +54,11 @@ function main() {
         # (see https://github.com/sbt/sbt/issues/562).
         stty -icanon min 1 -echo > /dev/null 2>&1
         export SPARK_SUBMIT_OPTS="$SPARK_SUBMIT_OPTS -Djline.terminal=unix"
-        $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --class org.apache.spark.repl.Main ${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]} spark-shell ${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}
+        $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --class org.apache.spark.repl.Main "${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}" spark-shell "${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}"
         stty icanon echo > /dev/null 2>&1
     else
         export SPARK_SUBMIT_OPTS
-        $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --class org.apache.spark.repl.Main ${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]} spark-shell ${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}
+        $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit --class org.apache.spark.repl.Main "${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}" spark-shell "${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}"
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/bin/utils.sh b/bin/utils.sh
index 9c56b99488e38..9c5fef1a42667 100644
--- a/bin/utils.sh
+++ b/bin/utils.sh
@@ -19,22 +19,24 @@
 
 # Gather all all spark-submit options into SUBMISSION_OPTS
 function gatherSparkSubmitOpts() {
+
+  if [ -z "$SUBMIT_USAGE_FUNCTION" ]; then
+
+    echo "Function for printing usage of $0 is not set." 1>&2
+    echo "Please set usage function to shell variable 'SUBMIT_USAGE_FUNCTION' in $0" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   SUBMISSION_OPTS=()
   APPLICATION_OPTS=()
   while (($#)); do
     case $1 in
-      --master | --deploy-mode | --class | --name | --jars | --py-files | --files)
-        ;&
-
-      --conf | --properties-file | --driver-memory | --driver-java-options)
-        ;&
-
-      --driver-library-path | --driver-class-path | --executor-memory | --driver-cores)
-        ;&
-
+      --master | --deploy-mode | --class | --name | --jars | --py-files | --files | \
+      --conf | --properties-file | --driver-memory | --driver-java-options | \
+      --driver-library-path | --driver-class-path | --executor-memory | --driver-cores | \
       --total-executor-cores | --executor-cores | --queue | --num-executors | --archives)
         if [[ $# -lt 2 ]]; then
-          usage
+          "$SUBMIT_USAGE_FUNCTION"
           exit 1;
         fi
         SUBMISSION_OPTS+=($1); shift
diff --git a/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py b/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
index c7f7c1fe591b0..4672171328faf 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/java_gateway.py
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ def launch_gateway():
         submit_args = os.environ.get("PYSPARK_SUBMIT_ARGS")
         submit_args = submit_args if submit_args is not None else ""
         submit_args = shlex.split(submit_args)
-        command = [os.path.join(SPARK_HOME, script)] + submit_args + ["pyspark-shell"]
+        application_opts = os.environ.get("APPLICATION_OPTS")
+        application_opts = application_opts if application_opts is not None else ""
+        application_opts = shlex.split(application_opts)
+        command = [os.path.join(SPARK_HOME, script)] + submit_args + \
+            ["pyspark-shell"] + application_opts
         if not on_windows:
             # Don't send ctrl-c / SIGINT to the Java gateway:
             def preexec_func():