diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 715c9cd134..468ad1702e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
     "bunyan": "1.8.5",
     "camelcase": "4.0.0",
     "debounce": "1.0.0",
+    "decamelize": "1.2.0",
     "es6-error": "4.0.2",
     "es6-promisify": "5.0.0",
     "event-to-promise": "0.7.0",
@@ -65,9 +66,9 @@
     "parse-json": "2.2.0",
     "regenerator-runtime": "0.10.1",
     "require-uncached": "1.0.3",
-    "stream-to-promise": "2.2.0",
     "sign-addon": "0.2.1",
     "source-map-support": "0.4.11",
+    "stream-to-promise": "2.2.0",
     "tmp": "0.0.30",
     "update-notifier": "1.0.3",
     "watchpack": "1.2.0",
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index eba576809f..f9ea09baef 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import path from 'path';
 
 import requireUncached from 'require-uncached';
+import camelCase from 'camelcase';
+import decamelize from 'decamelize';
 
 import {createLogger} from './util/logger';
 import {UsageError} from './errors';
@@ -12,18 +14,24 @@ type ApplyConfigToArgvParams = {|
   argv: Object,
   configObject: Object,
   defaultValues: Object,
+  configFileName: string,
 |};
 
 export function applyConfigToArgv({
   argv,
   configObject,
   defaultValues = {},
+  configFileName,
 }: ApplyConfigToArgvParams): Object {
   const newArgv = {...argv};
   for (const option in configObject) {
     // we assume the value was set on the CLI if the default value is
     // not the same as that on the argv object as there is a very rare chance
-    // this happening
+    // of this happening
+    if (camelCase(option) !== option) {
+      throw new UsageError(`The config option "${option}" must be ` +
+        `specified in camel case: "${camelCase(option)}"`);
+    }
     const wasValueSetOnCLI = typeof(argv[option]) !== 'undefined' &&
       (argv[option] !== defaultValues[option]);
     if (wasValueSetOnCLI) {
@@ -31,10 +39,9 @@ export function applyConfigToArgv({
         `configuration: ${option}=${configObject[option]}`);
       continue;
     }
-    if (!argv.hasOwnProperty(option)) {
-      log.debug(`Ignoring configuration: ${option}=${configObject[option]} ` +
-        'because this is an unknown option');
-      continue;
+    if (!argv.hasOwnProperty(decamelize(option, '-'))) {
+      throw new UsageError(`The config file at ${configFileName} specified ` +
+        `an unknown option: "${option}"`);
     }
     newArgv[option] = configObject[option];
   }
diff --git a/tests/unit/test.config.js b/tests/unit/test.config.js
index 82761aa33b..053b01a7d4 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test.config.js
+++ b/tests/unit/test.config.js
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ function makeArgv({
   };
 }
 
+const applyConf = (params) => applyConfigToArgv({
+  configFileName: 'some/path/to/config.js',
+  ...params,
+});
+
 describe('config', () => {
   describe('applyConfigToArgv', () => {
 
@@ -64,7 +69,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         sourceDir: '/configured/source/dir',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, cmdLineSrcDir);
     });
 
@@ -82,7 +87,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         sourceDir: '/configured/source/dir',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, configObject.sourceDir);
     });
 
@@ -102,7 +107,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         sourceDir: '/configured/source/dir',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, cmdLineSrcDir);
     });
 
@@ -115,12 +120,16 @@ describe('config', () => {
             demand: false,
             default: 'default/value/option/definition',
           },
+          'artifacts-dir': {
+            type: 'string',
+            demand: false,
+          },
         },
       });
       const configObject = {
-        foo: '/configured/foo',
+        artifactsDir: '/configured/artifacts/dir',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, 'default/value/option/definition');
     });
 
@@ -135,12 +144,16 @@ describe('config', () => {
             demand: false,
             default: 'default/value/option/definition',
           },
+          'artifacts-dir': {
+            type: 'string',
+            demand: false,
+          },
         },
       });
       const configObject = {
-        foo: '/configured/foo',
+        artifactsDir: '/configured/artifacts/dir',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, cmdLineSrcDir);
     });
 
@@ -157,7 +170,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         overwriteFiles: true,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.overwriteFiles, true);
     });
 
@@ -173,7 +186,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         overwriteFiles: true,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.overwriteFiles, true);
     });
 
@@ -189,7 +202,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         overwriteFiles: false,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.overwriteFiles, true);
     });
 
@@ -201,12 +214,15 @@ describe('config', () => {
           'source-dir': {
             type: 'string',
           },
+          'verbose': {
+            type: 'boolean',
+          },
         },
       });
       const configObject = {
-        foo: true,
+        verbose: true,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, cmdLineSrcDir);
     });
 
@@ -223,7 +239,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         numberOfRetries: 1,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.numberOfRetries, 1);
     });
 
@@ -240,7 +256,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         numberOfRetries: 1,
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.numberOfRetries, 0);
     });
 
@@ -256,9 +272,46 @@ describe('config', () => {
       const configObject = {
         sourceDir: '/configured/directory',
       };
-      const newArgv = applyConfigToArgv({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      const newArgv = applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
       assert.strictEqual(newArgv.sourceDir, '/configured/directory');
     });
+
+    it('throws an error when an option is not camel cased', () => {
+      const {argv, defaultValues} = makeArgv({
+        globalOpt: {
+          'source-dir': {
+            type: 'string',
+            demand: false,
+          },
+        },
+      });
+      const configObject = {
+        'source-dir': 'fake/value/',
+      };
+      assert.throws(() => {
+        applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues});
+      }, UsageError, 'UsageError: The config option "source-dir" must be ' +
+        'specified in camel case: "sourceDir"');
+    });
+
+    it('throws an error when an option is invalid', () => {
+      const {argv, defaultValues} = makeArgv({
+        globalOpt: {
+          'source-dir': {
+            type: 'string',
+            demand: false,
+          },
+        },
+      });
+      const configFileName = 'fake/path/to/config';
+      const configObject = {
+        artifactsDir: 'fake/artifacts/dir',
+      };
+      assert.throws(() => {
+        applyConf({argv, configObject, defaultValues, configFileName});
+      }, UsageError, 'UsageError: The config file at fake/path/to/config ' +
+        'specified an unknown option: "artifactsDir"');
+    });
   });
 
   describe('loadJSConfigFile', () => {