If we consciously or even subconsciously treat the Bible merely as a theological textbook, then our actual relationship with God, Christian platitudes aside, will only be as dynamic, organic, and lively as the other textbooks on our bookshelf.
I do recognize that one role of the Bible is for educational/instructional purposes, like a modern day textbook (2 Timothy 3:16). I just think that if that's the ONLY way we approach the Bible though, things get super dangerous (and also boring, bluntly speaking).
I think that the more important role of the Bible is to act as a living and active (Hebrews 4:12) supernatural medium that interactively connects us with God. With the exception of a few denominations, I think us Western Protestants fail to emphasize this aspect of the Word of God, and we sometimes fall into the John 5:39-40 trap of the Pharisees where we fail to use the Scriptures as a means towards experiencing the supernatural life that Jesus offers us everyday.
I think in our day and age we need to emphasize this role of the Bible being the "medium that relationally connects us to God". It's like a cell phone that connects person to person. But more. It's full of dynamism, life, and organic-like connectivity that buzzes with divine electricity in relationally connecting people to God.
(The following gets somewhat technical if you want a theological/philosophical elaboration on this without saying pretty but empty Christian cliches that don't really explain anything)
The Bible itself says that Jesus is the Word of God himself (John 1:1, 1 John 1:1-2, Revelation 19:11-13). Jesus, himself, is the message of God. And since God is alive, when he freshly communicates to humans live, his messages are also live and fresh, just like how since I'm alive and I'm freshly communicating messages to you live, when you receive them, they have a live and fresh quality to them. They are not just "dead words spoken 10 years ago". What I freshly say to you one minute/hour/day may be different from other minutes/hours/days, and what God freshly says to us one minute/hour/day may be different from other minutes/hours/days. However, when I freshly speak to you, what doesn't change are the 24 letters of the English alphabet, English vocabulary, and English grammar (I realize that letters, vocabulary, and grammar can change in a human language over time, but this is just for the sake of an illustration). I use the same letters, vocabulary, and grammar structures in every fresh message I give you, but the letters, vocabulary, and grammar structures don't change. Yet, the English language here is acting as a medium for lively, dynamic, organic relational interaction between me and you with non-stop originality in freshly constructed English sentences. In this analogy, the English language itself is the medium of fresh communication between you and me, and the fresh/original content of each sentence I say to you acts like the "Jesus" of me. It is fresh/original/live because I am fresh/original/live.
The Word of God and Jesus are like that. The Word of God provides the medium of "letters, vocabulary, and grammar" (Biblical verses, Biblical/Systematic theology [this is where the Bible appropriately has a role of instruction somewhat like a textbook], and Philosophical Christian principles that don't change) of God that the Father's communication to us involves. Jesus is the "Living Word" because he is the fresh/live/original communications of God the Father to us. Just like how a human is always creatively/freshly giving new communication to others using letters, vocabulary, and grammar principles of a language that don't change, God is always creatively/freshly giving new communications to us in original ways (through Jesus, the living Word) through non-changing Biblical verses, Biblical/Systematic theology, and Philosophical Christian principles. And the Holy Spirit's role is to "translate" all this spiritual communication in a way we can understand as we approach biblical meditation with an open-ended heart.
Practically, what this means is that although the content/theology of 1 Corinthians 13 will never change, What God wants to say to us through the "Jesusization" of 1 Corinthians 13 today may very well be different from what he wants to say to us through the "Jesusization" of 1 Corinthians 13 a week from now.
This is attitude is very different from treating the Bible merely as a textbook with "dead words on a page" as Jan Johnson put it once.
