diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 618170058da2..48381698e4f0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-- Nothing yet!
+### Fixed
+
+- Remove false positive warning in CLI when using the `--content` option ([#7220](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/7220))
 
 ## [3.0.16] - 2022-01-24
 
diff --git a/src/cli.js b/src/cli.js
index c8c1fdd2b9cb..67cf3f01daa8 100644
--- a/src/cli.js
+++ b/src/cli.js
@@ -437,7 +437,6 @@ async function build() {
 
   function resolveConfig() {
     let config = configPath ? require(configPath) : {}
-    let resolvedConfig = resolveConfigInternal(config)
 
     if (args['--purge']) {
       log.warn('purge-flag-deprecated', [
@@ -450,10 +449,13 @@ async function build() {
     }
 
     if (args['--content']) {
-      resolvedConfig.content.files = args['--content'].split(/(?<!{[^}]+),/)
+      let files = args['--content'].split(/(?<!{[^}]+),/)
+      let resolvedConfig = resolveConfigInternal(config, { content: { files } })
+      resolvedConfig.content.files = files
+      return resolvedConfig
     }
 
-    return resolvedConfig
+    return resolveConfigInternal(config)
   }
 
   function extractFileGlobs(config) {