1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
1 John 1:1-4
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I find it interesting that he chose to say that "life" appeared.  It doesn't say Jesus, although I believe of course in Him and His birth...but it says they have seen and testify to "it"-eternal life...which was with the Father.  "Life", or eternal life is non-gendered.  ..for God is Spirit, according to what Jesus Himself said to the woman at the well.
I'm reminded of what John also said in his gospel...In the beginning was "the Word"...with God, and was God.  The Word is non-gendered.  It was the Word that became flesh, and dwelt among us.

I feel that the point here is that The Word (eternal life, God) created a body (Jesus' body) for the Spirit to inhabit, its' own creation, to show us eternal life, things of the Spirit, things that the Father says about Spirit/God things, in a natural way that we can understand more fully.  Christ said, "I show you things of the Father, and speak what He tells me."

Emmanuel ("God with us"), as one of us...and for God to more fully know and understand/feel/"get" us because He became one of us, (to see, to feel, to know)

Both God and us more fully understanding each other creates a wonderful, loving fellowship, a beautiful connection in His Spirit and helps His joy and OUR joy be more complete and fulfilling, together.
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Please join in with your comments and thoughts...I have not done any kind of exhaustive study so I would appreciate things that you find, feel the Spirit has placed on your heart to share.
Let it build, let it bless, but never to bash another, even with any differences.
Next, I'll probably be looking at 1 John 1: 5-10