diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 3af24de3b..c0831fd70 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
 Configuration
 =============
 
-This content is now covered in the :doc:`User Guide <user_guide>`
+This content is now covered in the :ref:`Configuration` section of the :doc:`User Guide <user_guide>`.
diff --git a/docs/reference/index.rst b/docs/reference/index.rst
index 44b040a86..f25568bfb 100644
--- a/docs/reference/index.rst
+++ b/docs/reference/index.rst
@@ -14,5 +14,6 @@ Reference Guide
    pip_show
    pip_search
    pip_check
+   pip_config
    pip_wheel
    pip_hash
diff --git a/docs/reference/pip_config.rst b/docs/reference/pip_config.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f92f5714
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/reference/pip_config.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+
+.. _`pip config`:
+
+pip config
+------------
+
+.. contents::
+
+Usage
+*****
+
+.. pip-command-usage:: config
+
+Description
+***********
+
+.. pip-command-description:: config
+
+Options
+*******
+
+.. pip-command-options:: config
diff --git a/docs/user_guide.rst b/docs/user_guide.rst
index daff8a3e2..13daabc73 100644
--- a/docs/user_guide.rst
+++ b/docs/user_guide.rst
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ Examples:
 
 
 Command Completion
-------------------
+******************
 
 pip comes with support for command line completion in bash, zsh and fish.
 
diff --git a/news/4556.trivial b/news/4556.trivial
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3275226cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/4556.trivial
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Misc changes related to configuration
diff --git a/pip/commands/configuration.py b/pip/commands/configuration.py
index 22a00e867..071f08b9c 100644
--- a/pip/commands/configuration.py
+++ b/pip/commands/configuration.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ class ConfigurationCommand(Command):
             action='store',
             default=None,
             help=(
-                'Editor to use to edit the file. Uses '
-                '$EDITOR if not passed.'
+                'Editor to use to edit the file. Uses VISUAL or EDITOR '
+                'environment variables if not provided.'
             )
         )
 
diff --git a/pip/configuration.py b/pip/configuration.py
index 8e1bbb1b8..400d2a644 100644
--- a/pip/configuration.py
+++ b/pip/configuration.py
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ class Configuration(object):
             kinds.GLOBAL, kinds.USER, kinds.VENV, kinds.ENV, kinds.ENV_VAR
         ]
 
+        self._ignore_env_names = ["version", "help"]
+
         # Because we keep track of where we got the data from
         self._parsers = {variant: [] for variant in self._override_order}
         self._config = {variant: {} for variant in self._override_order}
@@ -275,7 +277,11 @@ class Configuration(object):
     def _get_environ_vars(self):
         """Returns a generator with all environmental vars with prefix PIP_"""
         for key, val in os.environ.items():
-            if key.startswith("PIP_"):
+            should_be_yielded = (
+                key.startswith("PIP_") and
+                key[4:].lower() not in self._ignore_env_names
+            )
+            if should_be_yielded:
                 yield key[4:].lower(), val
 
     # XXX: This is patched in the tests.
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_configuration.py b/tests/unit/test_configuration.py
index 941cf0926..33f075861 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_configuration.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_configuration.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 import os
 
+import pytest
 from mock import MagicMock
 
 from pip.exceptions import ConfigurationError
@@ -49,6 +50,22 @@ class TestConfigurationLoading(ConfigurationMixin):
         self.configuration.load()
         assert self.configuration.get_value(":env:.hello") == "5"
 
+    @pytest.mark.skipif("sys.platform == 'win32'")
+    def test_environment_var_does_not_load_lowercase(self):
+        os.environ["pip_hello"] = "5"
+
+        self.configuration.load()
+        with pytest.raises(ConfigurationError):
+            self.configuration.get_value(":env:.hello")
+
+    def test_environment_var_does_not_load_version(self):
+        os.environ["PIP_VERSION"] = "True"
+
+        self.configuration.load()
+
+        with pytest.raises(ConfigurationError):
+            self.configuration.get_value(":env:.version")
+
 
 class TestConfigurationPrecedence(ConfigurationMixin):
     # Tests for methods to that determine the order of precedence of