It is the Catholic view that can look at both the commandment to have no other God besides him, and not ascribe divinity to graven images, but also shows that skillful adornment of images can also be put to use to bring more honour and glory to God with such statuary. This is why only the Catholic view does not have contradiction as most Protestants would have when it comes to this issue.

One thing to note that in Ezekiel 41:18-19 there is a mention of making statuaries of men:

18And it was made with cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces, 19so that the face of a man was toward a palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion toward a palm tree on the other side; thus it was made throughout the temple all around.

There could be no pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament because Jesus had not yet revealed himself to his people. The Word did not become flesh until the New Covenant. In fact, the Word, Jesus, did become flesh (Jn 1:14). Even though Jesus existed from the beginning (Jn 1:1, 8:58), God’s people did not know Him as of yet. When He became flesh, the incarnation changed the whole world around in this area. Christ deigned to become man for our salvation. No image could be made of someone who is pure Spirit, but in the incarnation, Jesus became man, enabling us to have an image of Him. Hebrews 1:3 says: 'Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person'. Statues help us to bring to mind, and meditate on Jesus (and brings to our minds the reality of the incarnation) precisely because He became flesh for us. It also it brings to mind that Jesus intercedes now for us in heaven (Heb. 7:25). It is permissible for His followers to make images of Him to bring Him Glory. Catholics know that statues that reflect Christ's image, is not a god.

"We use all our senses to produce worthy images of Him, and we sanctify the noblest of the senses, which is that of sight. For just as words edify the ear, so also the image stimulates the eye. What the book is to the literate, the image is to the illiterate. Just as words speak to the ear, so the image speaks to the sight; it brings us understanding. For this reason God ordered the ark to be constructed of wood which would not decay, and to be gilded outside and in, and for the tablets to be placed inside, with Aaron’s staff and the golden urn containing the manna, in order to provide a remembrance of the past, and an image of the future. Who can say that these were not images, heralds sounding from far off? They were not placed aside in the meeting-tent, but were brought forth in the sight of all the people, who gazed upon them and used them to offer praise and worship to God. Obviously they were not adored for their own sake, but through them the people were led to remember the wonders of old and to worship God, the worker of wonders. They were images serving as memorials; they were not divine, but led to the remembrance of divine power." -- St John Damascene

The Manicheans, who battled St. Augustine on some issues, taught that matter was bad, and that grace and good could not come out of material things. As the Word became Flesh, he took upon matter. And it was good. The Protestant too often sees material things as bad, and that is why they refer to the Catholic way of using material means to reflect God as idolatrous. That in part explains the rejection of many Protestants of things such as water being a means of grace through baptism, and the rejection of the Eucharist as the true presence of Christ. This view of material as ‘bad’ and ‘Spiritual’ as good unfortunately gives a stilted view of how God works in the world.