diff --git a/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/application-context.xml b/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/application-context.xml
index dbdf1f7f4..d616fa1bf 100644
--- a/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/application-context.xml
+++ b/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/application-context.xml
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@
 	<!-- Configure locale information -->
 	<bean id="messageSource" class="org.mitre.openid.connect.config.JsonMessageSource">
 		<property name="baseDirectory" value="/resources/js/locale/" />
+		<property name="useCodeAsDefaultMessage" value="true" />
 	</bean>
 
 	<!-- user services -->
diff --git a/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/JsonMessageSource.java b/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/JsonMessageSource.java
index edf7fcb40..ef000507f 100644
--- a/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/JsonMessageSource.java
+++ b/openid-connect-server/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/JsonMessageSource.java
@@ -66,12 +66,13 @@ public class JsonMessageSource extends AbstractMessageSource {
 		}
 
 		if (value == null) {
-			value = code;
+			// if it's still null, return null
+			return null;
+		} else {
+			// otherwise format the message
+			return new MessageFormat(value, locale);
 		}
-
-		MessageFormat mf = new MessageFormat(value, locale);
-
-		return mf;
+	
 	}
 
 	/**