I believe too, that even though they knew Jesus after the flesh, as we see Philip asking Jesus to show them the Father, and Jesus responds to him, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?"It could be that he believed Jesus was alone (that there was more to see in otherwords). But Jesus said, that he was not alone (John 8:16) that the Father was with him (Acts 10:38) He said He spoken as the Father taught him (Deut 18:18, John 12:49, John 8:38, John 17:8). To wit, God was in Christ (2 Cr 5:19) and yet Philip was knowing the Father by Jesus Christ, but perhaps just unaware of this. When they have known Jesus (his inward person) not just Jesus after the flesh (even though he came in the flesh) they know the Father by Jesus. Just as the indwelling Father can be known by and through the Son. It tells us that Jesus is the "express image" of his person. Perhaps they were still knowing Jesus after the flesh (until the time they could see past the veil of it) since Jesus come among them in another form, but they could not reccognize it was him in Mark 16:12
2Cr 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Philip beholding Jesus after the flesh (or Jesus' outward/visible image) is in contrast to knowing Jesus after the Spirit (or Jesus' inward/invisible image)
Knowing the Father (the invisible God) come by Jesus Christ (Who manifests God in the flesh) as He is the image of the invisible (not visible) God
Which is speaking of "his person", as Hebrews says,
Hebrews 1:3 Who being "the brightness of" his glory, and "the express image" of his person
And so as Jesus said,
John 14:7 If ye had known me ( not after the flesh, but his person), ye should have known my Father also:
and from henceforth ye ( know him ) and have ( seen him )
Since Jesus is the image of the invisible God Col 1:15 the express image of his person (his inward person)
We are not to know him after the flesh,
Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
John 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The Father is in him and he in the Father
Knowing him after the flesh (outward appearance) and not after the Spirit (inward person) is not really knowing him
We see Jesus change things up and appears to them in another forum
Mark 16:12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
Jesus draws near to them asking them whats up why so sad?
Luke 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
And they respond to him as unto a stranger (same entertain strangers, "angels unawares" vibe here )
Luke 24:18 Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
And it come to pass in the breaking of bread
Luke 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
This had to be the eyes of their understanding or their hearts that were opened as they knew him he simultaneously vanishes out of their sight
Which fits in with this more perfectly
2Cr 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Though, Paul wrote that and Paul did not walk with Jesus in the days of his flesh
To know the Father comes by Jesus, or by the Spirit of Christ, whom the world cannot receive because "it seeth him not"
"but ye see me"
Couldn't resist....
They beheld the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, who is the brightness of His glory.
And Jesus prayed,
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Wheras now we behold as in a glass his glory by the Spirit of the Lord
2Cr 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Edit added in a reference