Only the oceanic Word of God can cure shallowness

Yes, only the oceanic Word of God can cure shallowness...

The Bible doesn't give up its influence and mysteries and understanding promiscuously. One thing that happens to scholars and readers of the Bible who take a similar intellectual approach is they will think they've 'gotten the measure' of the Great Book when they've scanned each part to some extent (the one's who actually do this), then they fall into the trap of thinking that is all there is in the Bible.

The Bible is not a book like any other book one can hold and read. The Bible contains the living 'oracles' of God. (Calvin states somewhere in his commentaries that he prefers to use the word 'oracles' of God rather than merely 'word' of God because the Bible contains words that are so much more than mere words. It contains living language. The oracles of God Himself.)

But one can come to a point where the Bible seems a stale book. Like something you've 'covered' already. Something - though you wouldn't put it like this to yourself - that has nothing more to give you. So you think it's OK to just read theology now. You've 'got' the Bible down. But that is a vain mistake. The Bible is alive and always has more to deliver. You, though, have to put effort (zeal) into getting more of what it delivers.

And you have to realize that you can't filter it through vanity and worldly pride and self-will. You have to be passive to it. Conquer it, yes, but set aside 'what you know' when you go to the Bible anew. What you know is not all that is there.

Really it comes down to this: do you see the Bible as being an influence that is above you, or do you see it as something that your intellect has focused on and measured and weighed and put in its place? Do you continually think of commentaries you've read when you read a passage? Or do you take in what you read in the Bible as if seeing it for the first time? Do you respect the Bible as something that is above you? Your past understanding won't go away. Foundational biblical doctrine once found doesn't change either. That's not the subject here.

The Bible will be stale the more you read it complete, but that is because it requires more effort the more you read it. It requires more focus and meditating and pondering on each part of it, and more thinking in terms of the whole of it. It requires engaging it that involves more time and effort. The Bible is not stale when you pause over a verse and passage and chapter and meditate on it. Draw it into mind away from the page...