diff --git a/command/init.go b/command/init.go
index ec5b505bd..0f0b41d81 100644
--- a/command/init.go
+++ b/command/init.go
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ func (c *InitCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		return 1
 	}
 
+	if c.migrateState && c.reconfigure {
+		c.Ui.Error("The -migrate-state and -reconfigure options are mutually-exclusive")
+		return 1
+	}
+
 	// Copying the state only happens during backend migration, so setting
 	// -force-copy implies -migrate-state
 	if c.forceInitCopy {
diff --git a/command/meta_backend.go b/command/meta_backend.go
index cce4c3568..2c378ae67 100644
--- a/command/meta_backend.go
+++ b/command/meta_backend.go
@@ -1114,11 +1114,6 @@ func (m *Meta) backendInitFromConfig(c *configs.Backend) (backend.Backend, cty.V
 	return b, configVal, diags
 }
 
-func (m *Meta) backendInitRequired(reason string) {
-	m.Ui.Output(m.Colorize().Color(fmt.Sprintf(
-		"[reset]"+strings.TrimSpace(errBackendInit)+"\n", reason)))
-}
-
 // Helper method to ignore remote backend version conflicts. Only call this
 // for commands which cannot accidentally upgrade remote state files.
 func (m *Meta) ignoreRemoteBackendVersionConflict(b backend.Backend) {