diff --git a/command/init.go b/command/init.go
index 1614a604f..e8a8c24e1 100644
--- a/command/init.go
+++ b/command/init.go
@@ -257,6 +257,24 @@ func (c *InitCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// With modules now installed, we should be able to load the whole
+	// configuration and check the core version constraints.
+	config, confDiags := c.loadConfig(path)
+	diags = diags.Append(confDiags)
+	if confDiags.HasErrors() {
+		// Since this may be the user's first ever interaction with Terraform,
+		// we'll provide some additional context in this case.
+		c.Ui.Error(strings.TrimSpace(errInitConfigError))
+		c.showDiagnostics(diags)
+		return 1
+	}
+	confDiags = terraform.CheckCoreVersionRequirements(config)
+	diags = diags.Append(confDiags)
+	if confDiags.HasErrors() {
+		c.showDiagnostics(diags)
+		return 1
+	}
+
 	if back == nil {
 		// If we didn't initialize a backend then we'll try to at least
 		// instantiate one. This might fail if it wasn't already initalized
diff --git a/command/init_test.go b/command/init_test.go
index 41e0d0ec6..d50baebd6 100644
--- a/command/init_test.go
+++ b/command/init_test.go
@@ -959,7 +959,7 @@ func TestInit_getProviderHaveLegacyVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestInit_getProviderCheckRequiredVersion(t *testing.T) {
+func TestInit_checkRequiredVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	// Create a temporary working directory that is empty
 	td := tempDir(t)
 	copy.CopyDir(testFixturePath("init-check-required-version"), td)