diff --git a/bigchaindb/commands/bigchain.py b/bigchaindb/commands/bigchain.py
index 62f3a7f6..080a8cb2 100644
--- a/bigchaindb/commands/bigchain.py
+++ b/bigchaindb/commands/bigchain.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ from bigchaindb.commands.messages import (
     RETHINKDB_STARTUP_ERROR,
 )
 from bigchaindb.commands.utils import configure_bigchaindb, input_on_stderr
-from bigchaindb.log.setup import setup_logging
 
 
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
diff --git a/bigchaindb/commands/utils.py b/bigchaindb/commands/utils.py
index adf0d19c..aaa92804 100644
--- a/bigchaindb/commands/utils.py
+++ b/bigchaindb/commands/utils.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import bigchaindb
 import bigchaindb.config_utils
 from bigchaindb import backend
 from bigchaindb.common.exceptions import StartupError
+from bigchaindb.log.setup import setup_logging
 from bigchaindb.version import __version__
 
 
@@ -23,6 +24,12 @@ def configure_bigchaindb(command):
     @functools.wraps(command)
     def configure(args):
         bigchaindb.config_utils.autoconfigure(filename=args.config, force=True)
+
+        logging_config = bigchaindb.config['logging'] or {}
+        if 'log_level' in args and args.log_level:
+            logging_config['level'] = args.log_level
+        setup_logging(logging_config)
+
         command(args)
 
     return configure