diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
index 958bd03617b3..607b4df73db9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ private[spark] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, St
     jars = Option(jars).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.jars")).orNull
     deployMode = Option(deployMode).orElse(env.get("DEPLOY_MODE")).orNull
     numExecutors = Option(numExecutors)
-      .getOrElse(defaultProperties.get("spark.executor.instances").orNull)
+      .getOrElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.executor.instances").orNull)
 
     // Try to set main class from JAR if no --class argument is given
     if (mainClass == null && !isPython && primaryResource != null) {